Using AI to track deadly and invasive mosquitoes
New mosquito species are moving across Florida and neighboring regions. Now, researchers are watching for invasive disease vectors to help local control agencies use citizen science to monitor the spread of mosquitoes, and help create a new machine learning solution for identifying both adults and larvae in real time.
This initiative is supported by the National Science Foundation (#2014547), and conducted as a collaboration between three citizen science platforms -- iNaturalist, Mosquito Alert, and GLOBE Observer Mosquito Habitat Mapper. Let's make sure the most data comes in from iNat users!
We're especially interested in species such as Aedes aegypti -- the Yellow Fever Mosquito primarily responsible for Zika outbreaks in Florida and worldwide -- as well as other invasive mosquitoes detected only recently. These include Aedes scapularis, a known vector of yellow fever identified last year in Florida; Aedes vittatus, now found in the Caribbean, which is a vector of a wide variety of pathogens including Zika, dengue, and West Nile virus; and Aedes mediovittatus, the Caribbean Treehole Mosquito, which is a vector of dengue and has yet to be observed on iNaturalist.
Please reach out if you have any questions, and thank you for supporting this work!