Invasive Mosquitoes, Competition, and Vector-borne Disease Wednesday August 9, 1:30 - 5:00 PM, Ballroom A, Cook Convention Center
Sarah Bevins (Colorado State University) studies the role an invasive species of mosquito (Aedes albopictus) may play in a geographic shift in the spread of the lacrosse virus (LAC) by affecting the native host mosquito. Centering mostly in the Midwestern United States, LAC is a leading cause of arboviral encephalitis in children. In the past decade however, the disease has started to shift towards the southeastern U.S. Traditionally carried by a native mosquito (Ochlerotatus triseriatus), research has shown nutritionally deprived mosquitoes to be more efficient transmitters of the disease. Bevins examined this relationship by placing larvae of both species of mosquitoes together to see what effect the invasive mosquitoes had on native mosquitoes. She will discuss her results at a contributed oral session on invasive species.
Wildlife Disease in Urbanized Landscapes: The Ecology of West Nile Virus and its Avian Reservoir Hosts Wednesday August 9, 1:30 - 5:00 PM, L-4, Cook Convention Center
Urban development alters the ecosystems of wildlife through changes in diversity, habitat fragmentation, changes in resources available, small-scale temperature changes created by the Urban Heat Island effect, and competition. These changes also affect the dynamics of infectious diseases in organisms. Spending a year studying the patterns of exposure of West Nile Virus in wild bird populations in the Atlanta, Georgia area, Catherine Bradley (University of Georgia Athens) will present her results at a contributed oral session on disease ecology.
For more information about these sessions and other ESA Meeting activities, visit: www.esa.org/memphis/.