A mass rearing cost calculator for the control of Culex quinquefasciatus in Hawaiʻi using the incompatible insect technique
A mass rearing cost calculator for the control of Culex quinquefasciatus in Hawaiʻi using the incompatible insect technique
Tags: Culex, Incompatible insect technique, Sterile insect technique (SIT)A. E. Vorsino and Z. Xi, Parasites and Vectors, 15:453. 2022.
Hawaiʻi’s native forest avifauna is experiencing drastic declines due to climate change-induced increases in temperature encroaching on their upper-elevation montane rainforest refugia. Higher temperatures support greater avian malaria infection rates due to greater densities of its primary vector, the southern house mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus, and enhance development of the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum. Here we propose the use of the incompatible insect technique (IIT) or the combined IIT/sterile insect technique (SIT) for the landscape-scale (i.e., area-wide) control of Cx. quinquefasciatus, and have developed a calculator to estimate the costs of IIT and IIT/SIT applications at various sites in Hawaiʻi.
