Conor, I believe the product used now is Malathion: "Malathion is a man-made organophosphate insecticide that is commonly used to control mosquitoes and a variety of insects that attack fruits, vegetables, landscaping plants, and shrubs. It can also be found in other pesticide products used indoors and on pets to control ticks and insects, such as fleas and ants. Malathion is the active ingredient in mosquitocontrol products including Fyfanon and Atrapa. These products contain over 95% malathion and are often applied undiluted. However, they may be diluted with a petroleum solvent similar to kerosene before application, in which case petroleum solvent will make up most of the pesticide solution." As an anecdote, I have noticed in my own neighborhood that the lack of spraying this year (due to city budget cuts) has resulted in an increase in fleas that are available to parasitize my dog. I would be curious what the current sentiment is toward possible malathion effects on frog populations. I know this probably has been debated before.
Not sure about the Keystone concept but certainly mosquitos have had profound effects on human ecology/history. An excellent short treatment of this can be found in: *Mosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe* by Andrew Spielman Very interesting read, apparently mosquitoes saved Rome from invaders many times... Todd On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Conor Flynn <[email protected]>wrote: > Our field crew is working in the extensive wetlands surrounding Alamosa, > CO and we've noticed something interesting: there are no mosquitoes in or > near Alamosa. > > This is because the city sprays for them regularly. We're not > complaining... but we have also noticed fewer grasshoppers, bees, and > frogs than we might otherwise expect. Are these (and other) species > directly affected by the insecticide (which chemicals are used post-DDT?) > and/or are mosquitoes ecologically important -- even keystone -- species? > What happens when you remove a parasite from the foodweb? Our field crew > is, among other things, cataloging the vegetation in the area -- could we > expect to see e.g. fewer flowering plants? Anything else we could look > for? Is anyone doing research on this quasi-Silent Spring phenomenon or > know more about the possible ramifications of parasite/pest control? >
