3/2/2024 – Today, after nearly a year of research, DCLT’s Summer Science Fair Intern, “Mosquito Molly,” presented her final project poster at the Massachusetts Region V Science Fair at Bridgewater State University.
Hard work paid off! Not only did Molly learn “more than [she] could have imagined” about mosquitoes, research, and statistics throughout her internship with DCLT, but she won the Fair’s Environmental Protection Agency Award and took a second place finish overall.
For her study, Molly tested the efficacy of techniques commonly used in mosquito control on Cape Cod. Her results show that local mosquito populations have evolved resistance to adult mosquito control, but not larval control techniques. Mosquito control practitioners should cease the use of adulticides to prevent the development of further pesticide resistance, instead reserving those methods for cases of serious mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.
Luckily, the Cape’s mosquito populations show no resistance to the larval control techniques most commonly used by the Cape’s government-funded mosquito control program. So – we can rest relatively easily, at least for now.
Molly wishes to thank her advisors at DCLT (Dave Fryxell, Tara Brew), Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School (Carl DePuy, Adam Cutler), and the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project (Gabi Sakolsky, Aubrey Paolino). Molly would also like to thank the funders of DCLT’s Summer Science Fair Internship Program in 2023 – The Bikezikian Family Foundation and the the Hadjimina Family.
Congratulations Molly, and to all participants at this year’s Fair. Next up – the State-wide Science Fair in April!
DCLT’s Summer Science Fair Internship Program was founded in 2022 with support from the Horizon Foundation, the Bilezikian Family Foundation, and the Cape Cod Foundation. The future is bright for this budding program, now with two consecutive years of interns placing at the Regional Fair and growing number of interested students for the coming summer. Stay tuned for more to come.