First Three Weeks at Vermont Department of Agriculture: Noah Gomes

I can't believe three weeks have already passed; it's gone by so fast! For the past three weeks, I have been doing surveillance on Aedes Albopictus mosquitoes and various other tasks around the lab. During my first week, I was learning the ropes of setting up OVI-position and BG-GAT traps and the exact routes that I go to every Tuesday and Wednesday. Since Aedes Albopictus is attracted to tires, there are a lot of tire shops, often used tire shops, that are on the
route. During my first week, I also learned how to make the solution that we use for the OVI-position at GAT traps, which includes hay, oak leaves, yeast, and lactalbumin (picture shown is setting up the solution before we head out on routes). 




After my first week, I was able to start my Aedes Albopictus surveillance route solo. I was able to retrieve samples from the OVI position and GAT traps from all the sites and refill the traps with solution. I ran into a roadblock with one of the GAT traps having been broken when I got to the site, but I was able to fix it up a little and replace it the next week with a new GAT trap. The most fun part was being in the lab the next few days and seeing the results from the traps. It was satisfying to see the traps work in real time. For the GAT traps, we counted the mosquitoes that got stuck to the sticky card. For the OVI-position traps, we let the papers dry out for a day or longer and then counted the eggs under a microscope. The quantity of mosquitoes (adults and eggs) jumped from week 2 to 3 which was interesting to see in real time. 

In my downtime, when I am not on my Aedes Albopictus surveillance routes, and not counting mosquitoes or eggs, I am often doing mosquito identification from other traps that are set by technicians all across Vermont. This has allowed me to get familiar with other types of traps, as well as bolster my ability to correctly identify mosquitoes among other bugs. I have also been able to learn how to identify different types of mosquitoes which has been fun and challenging. I have been able to use some of my comptuter experience to enter data electronically via Excel and use R to create graphs and templates for the data we are continuing to get in each week.  I can't believe 3 weeks have already passed and I am looking forward to the next 7 weeks in beautiful Vermont!


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