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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #158965
Title: OLFACTOMETER AND LARGE CAGE EVALUATION OF A SOLID PHASE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE CONTROLLED PRODUCTION OF CO2

Author
item Kline, Daniel - Dan
item Allan, Sandra - Sandy
item Bernier, Ulrich
item Posey, Kenneth

Submitted to: Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/20/2006
Publication Date: 7/20/2006
Citation: Kline, D.L., Allan, S.A., Bernier, U.R., Posey, K.H. 2006. OLFACTOMETER AND LARGE CAGE EVALUATION OF A SOLID PHASE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE CONTROLLED PRODUCTION OF CO2. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. 22(3):378-381.

Interpretive Summary: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important mosquito attractant. Mosquito surveillance traps baited with CO2 are more effective than non-baited versions. Traditionally, CO2 is supplied to these traps either as dry ice or from compressed gas cylinders. However, both of these sources of CO2 can be very difficult to obtain on a consistent basis, especially in remote areas. Therefore, scientists at the Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL, in collaborative efforts with ICA, Trinova (Atlanta, GA), initiated a project to develop new methods of supplying CO2 to mosquito surveillance traps. New technology by ICA for chemical generation of CO2 from dry chemicals was evaluated in olfactometer and large outdoor cage tests against laboratory-reared mosquitoes. These laboratory tests indicate that this new technology has the potential to produce enough CO2 to attract mosquitoes for the duration (12 - 20 hrs) that most routine surveillance traps are placed in the field. Field studies are planned to determine the responses of natural populations to traps baited with this new technology. If the response is good then there this technology can be utilized as an alternative source of CO2 to dry ice and compressed gas. This will be very useful in remote areas.

Technical Abstract: New technology by ICA for chemical generation of carbon dioxide (CO2) was evaluated in olfactometer and large outdoor cage tests against laboratory reared Aedes aegypti for potential use in mosquito surveillance programs. The proprietary CO2 generation system consists of a poly-tyvek sachet containing two solid ingredients. Activated sachets immediately react to generate and release predictable levels of CO2 over time. In non-competitive olfactometer studies, a freshly activated sachet attracted an average of 96.6 (± 0.9)% of the available mosquitoes compared to 20.2 (± 6.5)% for 5 ml/min CO2 released from a compressed gas cylinder. In competitive tests the sachet attracted 92.4 (± 1.2)% compared to 0.9 (± 0.5)% for the compressed gas. This indicates that these sachets may be producing other mosquito attractants in addition to CO2. In the olfactometer, aged sachets attracted >90% of the available mosquitoes up to 8 hrs and ca. 27% 1 week after activation. In the large outdoor cages traps baited with activated sachets captured 2.2 - 5.4X as many mosquitoes as unbaited traps depending on time of testing after activation.