Early insights from the City of Calgary’s continued partnership with UCalgary showed that mosquito populations are at a lower-than-typical level this season, but that this is subject to shift. 

Alex Coker, integrated pest management technician with the city, said on June 22 that the recent rainy weather has led to fewer mosquitoes in their traps. 

She explained that mosquitoes thrive in warm, damp areas, such as stagnant water and places with high vegetation. 

Due to this spring’s wind and cooler temperatures, she said that they have seen lower-than-average numbers of the pesky insect, but that this could change when temperatures warm up as expected in July. 

“A bad mosquito season is if we have lots of really heavy rainfall followed by warm temperatures,” said Coker. 

“As soon as things start to heat up, we’ll start to see those adults being active.”

Calgary is home to more than 40 mosquito species, she said, some of which can carry viruses that can harm both people and animals. Ahead of the summer heat, Coker recommended that residents wear bug spray, wear full-length clothing, and drain any standing water.

On the latter, Coker said it’s important for people to keep their properties free of items like bird baths, rain barrels, and overflowing flower pots because these attract a specific type of invasive mosquito. 

“We do have some species that breed in containers,” she said. 

“If it’s water you need to use, like a rain barrel, then you can cover it with a really fine mesh screen, just to reduce those breeding habitats.”

Coker said that even though the city has set a number of traps, they focus on easily accessible areas, such as stormwater ponds. Because they can’t cover everywhere, she said that it is crucial for people to both monitor and report what they find.

Interactive research project helps track invasive species

The city and UCalgary’s citizen-led initiative, called ‘Skeeter Seekers,’ has returned this summer and asks residents to help researchers understand the area’s unique mosquito population. 

Over the next few months, Calgarians are invited to pick up collection kits at several locations, including Bowness Park, the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Prairie Winds Park, and Ralph Klein Park. 

Using these kits, interested community members are tasked with collecting either live or dead mosquitoes, filling in the date, time, and location of the collection using the provided label, before submitting the sample at the boxes indicated within the parks. 

Leading the project is assistant professor of veterinary medicine at UCalgary, John Soghigian, who said that it has focused on the Culex pipiens mosquito, where numbers have been growing in Alberta since it was first spotted in Edmonton in 2018. 

He said this is especially alarming because the species can carry the West Nile Virus. The virus can be transmitted to people, pets, horses, and birds, and although only 20 per cent of people show symptoms, it can cause serious neurological effects. 

Soghigian said that this species is often referred to as the house mosquito because it can survive winters in human-occupied places. 

Since the citizen initiative was launched, he said that this species has been found in samples submitted by households in Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge.

Despite Culex pipiens posing relatively low harm to the province, Soghigian said the risk still exists, which is why monitoring the mosquito’s movement is necessary to ensure it doesn’t spread.

“There’s a lot more people movement, there’s a lot more trade, and as a result of that, you also get mosquitoes moving,” he said. 

“Mosquitoes are very good at hitching rides in unexpected places.”