10/27/23 – THE NEXT TOOL FOR SAVING KAUA‘I FOREST BIRDS FROM EXTINCTION INTRODUCED
Posted on Oct 27, 2023 in Main, News Releases, slider
| JOSH GREEN, M.D. GOVERNOR |
DAWN CHANG |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 27, 2023
THE NEXT TOOL FOR SAVING KAUA‘I FOREST BIRDS FROM EXTINCTION INTRODUCED
To view video please click on on photograph
(KOKE‘E-WAIMEA CANYON STATE PARK, KAUA‘I) – A dozen researchers and technicians on Thursday started releasing incompatible male mosquitoes to try to cease the near-certain extinction of at the very least 4 species of Native Hawaiian honeycreepers. A primary for Hawai‘i, the discharge took place simply off a street on the Alaka‘i Plateau on Kaua‘i.
The launch of 20,000 male mosquitoes is a pilot research. The day was tinged with pleasure and no small measure of emotion, as most of the individuals concerned have been working to save lots of the honeycreepers and finding out mosquitoes’ impression on them for greater than a decade.
Female mosquitoes that carry avian malaria are transferring larger and better into honeycreeper habitat as temperatures heat. Previously, the area was too chilly for mosquitoes. Now, they’re transmitting avian malaria, which kills many honeycreepers rapidily, within the forests that had been as soon as the birdsʻ final refuge. One species, the ʻakikiki, has declined to as few as 5 or 6 individual birds residing within the wild.
Dr. Cali Crampton, Project Leader of the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP) mentioned, “I’m both sad and excited at the same time. Sad to know that our forest birds are suffering so greatly from these mosquito-borne diseases. But, after years of trying everything we can to save them from extinction, it’s a relief to know that we are at the cusp of launching a tool that can reverse those declines.”
The device or method is called IIT, for Incompatible Insect Technique. Thursday’s releases are a part of a pilot research and can inform the broader scale functions of IIT aimed toward decreasing mosquito populations in fowl habitat.
The day started with two crew members retrieving two giant, cardboard packing containers on the airport holding pods containing incompatible male Culex mosquitoes. The supplies had been examined by the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture.
After a fast cease to drop a small variety of mosquitoes on the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) base yard in Līhu‘e, to behave as information management for the bugs being launched within the forest, your complete crew gathered in a small clearing in Koke‘e, laid a plastic tarp on the bottom, and organized 20 pods in preparation to launch the male mosquitoes.
The crew had already strung up what they name a bug dorm, an oblong mesh enclosure which is the middle of a long life trial, to see how the male mosquitoes will survive after being launched. Dozens of traps, surrounding the discharge website, are already in place. Over the following week the bug dorm and the traps might be checked frequently.
Bryn Webber, KFBRP Mosquito Research Coordinator, defined, “We’re looking at collecting data on how far they travel through the forest and how long they live. That information will be used for landscape-level releases to help determine how many pods to use and how the mosquitoes disperse across the landscape.”
Each pod holds 1,000 mosquitoes and as soon as uncovered, most of them instantly fly away. It’s a bit difficult avoiding the tendency to swat at them. But, nobody acquired a single mosquito chunk, as a result of male mosquitoes usually are not in a position to chunk.
Crampton is sporting one in every of her organization’s shirts which says, “Save a Bird, Swat a Skeeter.” She laughs, “I’m definitely not swatting any skeeters today because these mosquitoes are the savior mosquitoes. These incompatible males will breed with females on the landscape and prevent successful fertilization, so no second generation and no more eggs, causing their population to decline.”
The crew is unified in its message, reminding folks that male mosquitoes don’t chunk, in order that they don’t unfold ailments in birds or individuals.
Mele Khalsa, Natural Resource Manager on Kauaʻi with The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra, commented, “Avian malaria is only carried by one species of mosquito, the female Culex quinquefasciatus, or Southern House mosquito. They are the only vector for this deadly disease of our avian friends, so we’re just looking to prevent the spread of this one mosquito.” She added this isn’t a ‘one and done’ undertaking and can proceed till mosquitoes are eradicated in honeycreeper habitats.
Allison Cabrera, with the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, spent the final three years within the subject making ready for today. She summed up the group’s emotions, “This is huge. We’ve done so much work and spent so much time to get to this point. It’s so exciting. We’re here finally. It’s great and it feels wonderful.”
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RESOURCES
(All photos and video courtesy: DLNR, except in any other case famous)
HD video – Kaua‘i mosquito Mark, Release, Recapture-media clips (Oct. 26, 2023):
HD video – Kaua‘i mosquito MRR SOTS (Oct. 26, 2023):
Photographs – Kaua‘i mosquito Mark, Release, Recapture (Oct. 26, 2023):
Photographs – Kaua‘i mosquito Mark, Release, Recapture (Oct. 26, 2023):
(Courtesy: The Nature Conservancy)
To study extra concerning the undertaking and the Incompatible Insect Technique, try www.birdsnotmosquitoes.org
Media Contact:
Dan Dennison
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(808) 587-0396
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