Fire Island National Seashore - For Your Safety: Avoid Mosquitoes (U.S. National Park Service)

Small pond is located in the middle of a light green salt marsh.

Healthy wetland ecosystems are essential to estuarine and coastal ecology, and are directly related to the well-being of coastal wildlife populations. Mosquitoes are an important part of this system.

The National Park Service is mandated to protect the natural resources within its boundaries, while ensuring human health and the safety of park visitors, residents and employees. This is a delicate balancing act.

Mosquitoes are an integral part of complex estuarine ecosystems. On Fire Island, they are a major component of the natural food chain. Mosquitoes are also vectors of organisms that can cause human diseases. Fire Island National Seashore has an active mosquito monitoring program to detect the presence of infected mosquitoes. However, you should make every effort to avoid becoming a part of the "food chain."

In their larval stages, mosquitoes are at the beginning of the food web for commercial and recreational fisheries. As adults, mosquitoes provide food for birds and other wildlife. Dragonflies, birds, and bats eat adult mosquitoes, and small fish and diving beetles eat tiny mosquito larvae suspended just below the water's surface.

Mosquitoes begin as tiny eggs deposited in wet areas such as ponds, marshes, mud flats, or outdoor containers such as old tires or buckets. You can eliminate mosquito breeding areas by eliminating anything that can collect rainwater.

Male mosquitoes eat only plant nectar which aids in pollination, but females need to eat blood to produce eggs. Mosquitoes generally seek rabbits and deer, but they may choose any warm-blooded animal including humans. They locate prey by detecting carbon dioxide which all animals, including humans, exhale when breathing.

Dressed in protective gear, a biologist collects mosquitoes from a trap in the shrubs.

Park biologist (mosquito technician) collects mosquitoes from a gravid trap on Fire Island to be sent out for testing.

Mosquitoes are known to transmit both Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus and West Nile virus (WNV), and several other arboviruses that can cause human illness. Although several species of mosquitoes live at Fire Island, the risk of contracting EEE or WNV at the park is low. To ensure the health and safety of people, the National Park Service has implemented a relatively extensive mosquito surveillance program at Fire Island National Seashore to detect any incidence of EEE or WNV in the mosquito population.

The National Park Service works closely with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Suffolk County Department of Health Service, Suffolk County Vector Control, and local Fire Island and Long Island municipalities to determine the best course of action to protect residents, visitors and employees of the Seashore. When threats to human health (such as the presence of West Nile Virus) occur, actions to protect the public may include control methods such as applying larvicide or spraying. The public is notified 24 hours in advance of any spray event. Information on the date and exact location of any spraying can be found on the Suffolk County web site at www.co.suffolk.ny.us/vector or by calling 631-852-4939.

Woman pushes net-covered stroller down a concrete path through dunes.

Use extra measures to protect infants and young children from mosquitoes: netting, long-sleeve shirts and pants, avoiding mosquito habitat and hours of activity. Never use insect repellant on infants.

by using insect repellent and follow the directions on the label carefully. Wear long sleeves, pants, and socks to keep mosquitoes away from your skin. Avoid being outdoors at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active.

Always .

In a lab, a National Park Service biologist sorts insects in a tray under task light beside microscope.

For More Information

Learn more about Fire Island National Seashore's mosquito monitoring program. The brochure Mosquitoes and People, now out of print, is available on-line.

For further information concerning West Nile virus and other vector-borne diseases, visit the National Park Service's Public Health Program and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/.

West Nile virus tracking maps are maintained by U. S. Geological Survey at diseasemaps.usgs.gov.

A series of Science Synthesis Papers was published in 2005 to support the preparation of a General Management Plan for Fire Island National Seashore.

Vector-borne Diseases on Fire Island, New York
(Fire Island National Seashore Science Synthesis Paper)
Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR--2005/018
by Howard S. Ginsberg