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Department of Medical Entomology |  |
| Investigations of Pest Mosquito Populations in the Homebush Bay area of Sydney, NSW. |
Homebush Bay is located on
the Parramatta River approximately 15kms from Sydney’s central
business district. Land use in the area has undergone significant changes in the
last 100 years. The area where once there was an abattoir, brickworks, an
armaments depot and large areas of landfill has now been replaced by residential
sporting and recreational developments.
In
addition to the development of Homebush Bay, local saline and freshwater
wetlands are currently being remediated to provide enhanced habitat for
international migratory birds, rare plants and an endangered species of frog.
Extensive freshwater wetland areas will also be created for the treatment of
stormwater and wastewater.
Concern
has been raised as to the potential pest impacts from the 31 mosquito species
known to exist in Homebush Bay. To assess these risks, mosquitoes are currently
being monitored on a regular basis. Surveillance of adult mosquito populations
is undertaken with carbon dioxide baited EVS traps on a weekly basis, and larval
populations are sampled routinely in the saline and freshwater wetlands.
The
most important pest species identified to date in the area are Aedes
vigilax (the saltmarsh mosquito) and Culex
annulirostris (the freshwater mosquito).
Combined
with this routine surveillance has been ongoing field and laboratory based
research designed to increase our knowledge of the local ecology of major pest
species. This research has been supervised by Associate
Professor Richard Russell and carried out by Cameron
Webb and Karen Willems.
The
research findings have assisted with the management of mosquitoes at Homebush
Bay providing an environment with minimal impacts from pest species.
