Joseph Fiscella: Week 1 at Suffolk County Vector Control

Today concludes my first week interning at Suffolk County Vector Control. Due to poor weather, Monday and Tuesday were both spent in the lab. We received a tour of the facilities, met the entomologists on site, and discussed mosquito/tick control projects and site restorations. I enjoyed learning about the most common tick species on Long Island, which include deer ticks, American dog ticks, and lone star ticks. We spent most of the day on Tuesday looking at tick specimens under the microscope, practicing our identification skills. For the remainder of the week, we spent each morning at various field sites collecting and documenting mosquito larvae. During the afternoon, we put our mosquito larvae under the microscope and practiced using dichotomous keys to ID them. The field sites are beautiful, but I'm still getting used to walking with my hip boots in the marshes. The grasses and plants are thick, and the ground is pretty irregular with some unexpected patches of very soft mud that are easy to sink into. I'm looking forward to visiting some of the tick field sites next week!





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