NEVBD internship (summer 2024) with Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project

I am officially done with the first week. I am excited to say that I think this internship is going to be very fun and I am looking fowared to the rest of the summer! This week I learned about gravid traps and light traps. We have many locations all around Cape Cod, MA that are near marsh lands, salt marshes, and bogs. Mostly anywhere water pools for a longer amount of time. Mosquitoes love wetlands to breed new generations of tiny blood hunrgy vectors. My job is to set up and collect mosqutioes from trap collection sites and take them back to the lab, so the species can be identifiyed. I am still trying to learn the minute details that differentiate the 50 species of Massachusetts. I have seen mostly Aedes and Ochlerotatus genus mosquitoes and I have had find the differences between Aedes vexans, Ochlerotatus abserratus, Ochlerotatus canadensis, Ochlerotatus cantator, and Ochlerotatus excrucians. Also, I have started studying for the pesticide applicators license test which I hope to ...

     Before my internship was started I was invited by my supervisor (Gabi Sakolsky) to join a mosquito and tick identification class. The course was held at the Cape Cod Community College in the science building. During the course, I got to hear from other mosquito control districts in Massachusetts talking about the different methods of traping and treating mosquitoes.       The Mosquito Mayhem course is aimed to introduce Identification of all the species of mosquitoes, which mainly focused on the species we find in Massachusetts. This class was very important to me because I was able to learn some new skills when looking at mosquitoes and also practice my own microscopy technique. After taking the class, I am more excited then ever to start my work with the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project! I can't wait to put my ID work to the test with the mosquitoes I find out in the field.