Degree

Doctor of Entomology (PENTM)

Department

Entomology

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Mosquito abatement has received much scrutiny due to concerns about the impacts of control applications on non-target organisms. In Louisiana, a great deal of this concern has come from crawfish farmers claiming mosquito abatement applications have damaged crawfish production. To determine which mosquito abatement practices and products pose a risk to crawfish production, we conducted a series of studies examining mosquito abatement practices in the vicinity of crawfish production fields and the impacts of common mosquito abatement product exposure on crawfish health and production. We found that mosquito ULV applications are the most likely to result in exposure to crawfish production systems and that these exposures are most likely to occur when the primary crawfish species, Procambarus clarkii, are adults. However, we found that the three most commonly used mosquito ULV products (Duet®, Dibrom®, and KontrolTM 31-67) are unlikely to induce mortality in exposed P. clarkii at field-realistic concentrations. Finally, we found that the two most commonly used ULV products (Duet® and Dibrom®) are unlikely to impact crawfish development and yield, even when maximum label-rate exposures occur frequently. As such, mosquito abatement applications are unlikely to pose a significant risk to crawfish production under normal circumstances.

Date

10-28-2022

Committee Chair

Healy, Kristen

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.5983

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