Ever wonder why you can take a walk in the woods during the peak of the summer and not see a single mosquito, but get back to your house and get three bites on your way to the front door?

Mosquitos that live in the natural environment primarily utilize wetlands, slow moving streams, ponds and vernal pools to complete the larval phase of their lifecycle. All of these naturally occurring habitats include predators, such as dragonflies, damselflies, birds, beetles, and frogs.

Mosquito populations that exist in these locations are kept in check by the predator/prey interactions. Mosquitos provide an important food source for predators. The complexity of natural habitat provides hiding places, food sources, breeding sites, and hunting grounds for a healthy balance of water treatment, nutrient cycling, and ecological activity.

Mosquitoes that Breed in the Natural Environment versus Container Breeders

In contrast to mosquitoes that breed in the natural environment and have their population kept in check by predators, container breeders are only kept in check by eliminating standing water.  

Container breeders are mosquitoes that thrive in urbanized areas where standing water is abundant. These species target small, temporary pools of standing water where they are protected from predators, and are almost exclusively associated with human-altered environments.  Examples of places they can breed include:

• Folds in tarps
• Children's toys and plastic items left outside
• Trash 
• Planters and buckets
• Birdbaths and ornamental ponds without aerators or moving water
• Clogged gutters or down-spouts. 
• Even an over-turned bottle cap!

The two mosquito species of concern  for their potential to carry the Zika virus -  the Asian tiger mosquito ( Aedes albopictus) and the yellow fever mosquito ( Aedes aegypti) - are container breeders. These species thrive in urbanized areas where hundreds of eggs can develop in as little as a teaspoon of standing water, often in less than a week’s time. Eliminating sources of standing water in the built environment is the single most important protective practice for reducing available breeding grounds for container species.

Protect yourself! Dump and scrape the standing water environments around your home and work site.