Joseph Fiscella: Week 10 at Suffolk County Vector Control

This week was the tenth and final week of my internship at Suffolk County Vector Control, and it truly feels like the summer flew by. On Monday and Tuesday, we wrapped up our vegetation sampling at two additional marsh sites. There was not a huge amount of diversity in the species we found this week compared to last week, but there were some grids this week that contained Phragmites, a tall reed grass commonly found along the edges of the marshes. While the heat and humidity this week did make the vegetation sampling tough work, it was still enjoyable to participate in new methods of population surveillance. Our last outing of the summer was on Thursday. Vector Control was informed of areas in Patchogue, NY that had high mosquito numbers. We had never been to the site before, so it was a bit of investigative work. While we barely found any mosquito larvae in our dips, the sheer number of adult mosquitoes flying around was overwhelming. This, alongside the unevenness of the marsh floor, made for, in my opinion, the most adverse day of field work the entire summer. However, I was able to layer up and cover my arms in order to avoid mosquito bites, and we did not stay out at this site for an extended period of time. Our guess is that the adults were the result of a recent hatch, and if we had sampled several days before, we would have found later stage larvae.

Overall, this internship was a wonderful experience that I will never forget. I enjoyed the unique exposure to entomology, field work, and public health in general. Thank you to Nick and Moses at Suffolk County Vector Control for guiding my fellow interns and I throughout the summer and the opportunity to learn from you both.



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