A Viability Assessment of Two Commercially Available Sticking Adjuvants Added to a Bifenthrin-Based Barrier Treatment on Aedes taeniorhycnhus

ABSTRACT In an effort to reduce Aedes taeniorhynchus numbers in the northernmost community of Key Largo, FL (known as Ocean Reef), during the peak summer months, Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD) has utilized a bifenthrin-based barrier application (Wisdom TC Flowable®) for several years. The FKMCD conducted a study comparing whether 2 aftermarket wetting/sticking adjuvants could improve the efficacy of the barrier treatments used to control Ae. taeniorhynchus. Maximum label rate was used for 3 separate solutions: Wisdom TC Flowable (1 fl oz/gal [7.81 ml/liter] water) with no additives (Wisdom), Wisdom with Lesco Spreader-Sticker® (0.08 fl oz [2.37 ml]), and Wisdom with Xtended Performance® (2.56 fl oz [75.71 ml]). All solutions were applied to 100-ft (approximately 3 m) sections of tree-lined roadways in Key Largo, FL, using a SR 420® Mistblower backpack sprayer (Stihl Corp.). Leaves were collected from each application area for 8 consecutive weeks. Leaves were used to perform leaf bioassays against local populations of Ae. taeniorhynchus adults, and mortality was recorded at 1, 4, and 24 h postexposure. This process was replicated 3 times. Treatments had variable mortality rates at 1, 4, and 24 h postexposure across 7 wk following application. Mortality rates for all mixtures decreased for all exposure times throughout the study. Overall, the Lesco Spreader-Sticker solution was the only combination with a positive significant difference in adult mortality after 24 h.

Dataset for Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from Cross Key, Monroe County, Florida, USA

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District deploys dry ice-baited light traps to monitor mosquito populations throughout the Florida Keys. Cross Key is an island directly north of Key Largo and via bridges it serves as a link between Key Largo and mainland Florida. This paper describes a data set compiled from trap collections on Cross Key, Florida, between September 23, 2002 and March 1, 2016.

Before Pearl Harbor

A range of deeply held convictions and loudly proclaimed opinions was reflected in the New York theater in the years before Pearl Harbor. Between 1933 and 1941 New York theatergoers saw plays representing multifarious positions, from pacifism and anti-intervention to critiques of fascism. This variety represents the public discourses of the time, a time of confusion and uncertainty, when there was no single way of understanding the problems facing us and no clear path through the problems into the future. Some plays, such as Robert E. Sherwood's Idiot's Delight, Lillian's Hellman's Watch on the Rhine, Robert Ardrey's Thunder R ock, and Maxwell Anderson's Key Largo, used the world crisis as a means of considering the state of the nation during great economic upheaval or the state of the individual as the world teetered toward a war that seemed inevitable.

FIELD EVALUATIONS OF ATTRACTIVE TOXIC SUGAR BAIT STATION AND VEGETATION SPRAY APPLICATIONS FOR CONTROL OF AEDES AEGYPTI IN KEY LARGO, FLORIDA

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, vectors of many arboviruses including Zika, dengue, and chikungunya, are difficult to control with traditional methods. We tested two novel approaches utilizing attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSB) against Ae. aegypti in the upper Florida Keys. Residential sites on the island of Key Largo were systematically selected using Google maps. Sites received either bait stations or vegetation spray application with ATSB. An untreated control site was selected to monitor mosquito populations. Adult and egg counts were monitored through baited BiogentsSentinel and oviposition traps. The treatment evaluation lasted 28 days following a 14-day pre-treatment evaluation. Treatment efficacy was evaluated using regression models to estimate the percent reduction of mosquitoes over time. Post-treatment, Ae. aegypti mosquito populations were reduced by 81% and 74% at days 7 and 28 (p<0.05) at the bait station site, while mosquito populations at the spray treatment site for the same period (7 to 28 days) were reduced by 66% and 82% (p<0.05), respectively. Treatment and time had no significant effect on the proportion of eggs collected after the application of the ATSB treatments. This is the first residential field trial against the Zika vector, Ae. aegypti, in South Florida that demonstrated successful reduction of female and males using both ATSB stations and vegetation spray treatments. The findings suggest that 1) ATSB stations and vegetation spray applications can reduce populations of Ae. aegypti in residential and semi-tropical areas at least up to 28 days and 2) Ae. aegypti female mosquitoes in South Florida feed on sugar, and their sugar-feeding behavior can be exploited to enhance control strategies.