Milwaukee, Wisconsin- After the large amounts of wet rainy weather that the upper Midwest has experienced, the number of mosquitoes in the affected regions will be high.
Mosquitoes will be out in large numbers in Wisconsin, and Illinois, but the areas of Iowa and the area near rivers that have flooded may bear the largest brunt of increased insect populations.
Phil Pellitteri is the entomologist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he states that the flooded conditions may have washed many of the mosquito eggs out of the state.
“Just because we have a large amount of flooded water it doesn’t necessarily mean that we will have huge amount of insects,” said Pellitteri.
The large amount of water can work in two different ways. In one method, the large amount of water will mean that there is more area for the mosquitoes to breed and multiply.
In another, it means that the floods may have washed a larger portion of the eggs for the insects down and out of the region. It all depends on the individual conditions.
Another consideration is that decaying, flooded crops allow insects to feast, and this also leads to a greater number of them.