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Decreasing Mosquito Population
The mosquito population seems to be down from the year’s high point a couple of weeks ago.

That's the assessment of Phil Nixon, entomologist for the University of Illinois Extension, though he doesn't have hard numbers to support his observation.

Nixon says rain caused the population of floodwater mosquitoes to swell two weeks ago, but they don't live long before being eaten by dragonflies, spiders, bats and birds. "It's been thought that the average mosquito probably is eaten by a predator within a day and a half or two days," he said. "They would normally live probably a couple of weeks, but predation greatly reduces their numbers."

In the dry weather, though, the floodwater mosquitoes are replaced by the house mosquito, which is more likely to carry West Nile virus or St. Louis encephalitis. Nixon says we'll lose a lot of mosquitoes when the temperature gets below 50 degrees for a few days.

(Illinois Radio Network)
08 25 10 by Newsroom
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