The use of cyclopoid copepods (Crustacea: Maxillopoda) to control Culicid mosquitos larvae in water deposit of refrigerators

• Grant number: 21/05896-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2021
• End date: September 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Gilmar Perbiche Neves
• Grantee: Luana Fraccarolli
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In tropical and subtropical countries is recurrent the existence of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue and yellow fever, which have stagnant water as the main place of proliferation of their larvae. Brazil suffers from dengue epidemics annually and, as it is a virus without a cure or vaccine, it has become a public health problem to be tackled. The use of copepods is an alternative that has been studied for biological control of the larvae of these mosquito mosquitoes, such as Aedes aegypti, a vector of dengue and yellow fever in Brazil, as they are easy to obtain and low cost for high production. The small crustaceans feed on the larvae, preventing them from reaching adulthood to transmit diseases. This project will analyze the effectiveness of cyclopoid copepods in the control of mosquito mosquitoes in water collection trays in refrigerators, a water storage environment inside homes that are conducive to the proliferation of larvae. Densities of 5 and 15 copepods per liter will be tested in these environments, in addition to the control treatment (without copepods), with 20 trays for each treatment, totaling 60 trays and refrigerators. The hypotheses will be tested that: 1. The application of copepods in the water collection trays of refrigerators will result in the absence of mosquito mosquito larvae in these environments, and 2. The highest density of copepods to be tested will be the most effective in mosquito control. Data will be compared using univariate statistical analyzes and generalized mixed models. The results will be presented at specialized scientific events and published in journals in the field. (AU)