Will Restoring a Wetland on My Property Attract Mosquitos?
It’s common knowledge that mosquitoes require standing water in order to breed. Mosquito control, therefore, has often involved drainage of natural wetlands. But this actually worsens the wetland problem. Here we explain why.
Original image: Katja Shulz, via Creative Commons
The Mosquito Life Cycle
Mosquitoes have only a brief life span—living from four days up to a month. The eggs that female mosquitoes lay can remain dormant in soil for a year or more, awaiting the wet conditions that prompt hatching. Therefore, mosquito populations in a drained wetland can rebound and surge after a brief spell of rain. Because this can happen again and again, draining the wetland doesn’t actually eliminate mosquito habitat.
Habitat for Predators
The insects that feed on mosquitoes thrive best in continuously flooded wetlands. Wetlands have the hydrology and plant life that supports these predators throughout their life cycles. They tend to die off in areas where conditions are only intermittently wet, like drained wetlands, the very places that are ideal for pulses of mosquito reproduction. So wetlands keep mosquitoes in check by providing consistent, high-quality habitat for their natural enemies.
Flood Control
Another way that wetlands help control mosquitoes is by reducing flooding. Wetlands occupy the transition zone between open water (lakes and streams) and upland. They help absorb the influx of water from heavy rains and thus keep the uplands from flooding. Temporary flooding of uplands would provide ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes, but wetlands prevent that from happening.
Restoring wetlands helps control mosquitoes naturally and reduces the need for costly insecticides. Go wetlands!
Mitigation Partners, Inc. Founders Dax Dickson & Tory Christensen
Sources
Indiana Wetlands Conservation Plan: https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/files/hlywet.pdf
Rey, Jorge R. et. al., 2012. North American Wetlands and Mosquito Control. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 9: 4537–4605.
Dale, P. E. R. and J. M. Knight. 2008. Wetlands and mosquitoes: a review. Wetlands Ecology and Management 16: 255–276.
