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Aloha Everyone,

The "Mosquitoes in Hawaii" Project has passed 380 observations and we continue to look for more volunteers throughout the state. Have you been lurking on this site and suddenly feel the urge to get involved? The time commitment can be as low or as high as you want. On Hawaii Island we have active volunteers in Waimea and Puna. We could use some more observers in Ka'u, South Kona, Kailua Kona, Hawi, Hilo and the Hamakua Coast. If you are interested, one of us will help train you. This is important scientific research that will help map the presence of mosquito species in Hawaii, especially Aedes mosquitoes that can spread Zika, Dengue and other diseases. We are particularly interested in recruiting high school students to help. It would make a great science project and look good on a college application form. The research from this project is slated to be included in a published scientific paper.

Recently I discovered a very good CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) documentary about mosquitoes on YouTube. It’s from the series “The Nature of Things” and it’s called “Zapped The Buzz About Mosquitoes.” It’s worth 45 minutes of your time. Mosquitoes are fascinating little buggahs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7uK61JguDU

Last June some of the members of our group were featured in this article about the “Mosquitoes in Hawaii” project: http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/crowdsourcing-projects-put-everyday-folks-role-mosquito-research-scientists

One last thought, we welcome everyone involved to comment on observations. After all, iNaturalist is a social media platform. I am not a scientist or naturalist by training, far from it, but I’ve learned to identify a few mosquitoes. I often confirm IDs on other people’s observations and sometimes post a simple comment complimenting the photo. It’s encouraging to get feedback from our little community of “Mosquito Nerds.”

Mahalo for all you do,
Lynn

Posted on October 14, 2016 02:58 AM by lynnbeittel