I wanted to thank everyone who made this internship possible for me! Thank you to NEVBD-TEC and the staff there including Emilie M Gray and Emily Mader. Thank you to Tadhgh Rainey for hosting me in Flemington! “Dyakuyu” or дякую to Jack Petersen for guiding me through the world of Aedes albopictus, Natular SC, and of course Ukrainian, Polish, etc. I also wanted to thank the rest of Hunterdon County Vector Control, Nick, Marty, and Lexi, for teaching me all about treating the river, gravid traps, light traps, etc!
I truly enjoyed all aspects of this internship from lab work on mosquito larvae to black fly field work. I thought that I would give a quick summary of everything I learned this summer! I completed 4 bioassays on Aedes albopictus larvae with different concentrations of Natular SC in 250mL of water. We collected data to create Probit analysis curves using computer software to estimate an LD50 (ours averaged around 0.5 to 0.7 microliters/Liter). We then started taking these estimates outside to treat larger amounts of larval habitat (about 5L). I also gained knowledge on mosquito identification in larval form as well as adult form through microscope work. I created permanent microscope slides using mosquito larvae from our different trials to use as voucher specimens. I also experienced the daily life of mosquito and vector control including setting and collecting gravid traps with stink water, collecting light traps, and treating the river for black fly. I also was able to go to smaller creeks and streams throughout Hunterdon County to collect black fly samples throughout the county. I appreciate all of these experiences because I feel I was able to apply concepts from the classroom and have a better understanding of science applications in the real world. I will be returning to Villanova University at the end of this week to continue my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, but I will now be able to take everything I learned throughout these ten weeks with me!
This summer truly flew by as it is somehow already the last week of my internship! As I mentioned in my last post, while I was gone, some trials were run on the buckets that we had set up right before I left. Most of the buckets were naturally colonized like we had hoped, but a few needed an egg paper. During this last week, we ran a final trial on the last three remaining buckets with concentrations of 0.3mL, 0.4mL, and 0.5mL as well as a control. After 24 hours, we took note of some live larvae in the two smaller concentrations but no live larvae in 0.5mL. This week I also got to see different types of larvae because they were being shipped to Florida. One larvae I saw was Psorophora ciliata, which was very interesting because they eat other mosquito larvae. I actually got to see an actively feeding larva with another mosquito in its mouth. Then, later in the week, I saw an adult, and it was so large compared to the Aedes albopictus that I had been working with throughout the entir...
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