007

Title:

Identification of gravid mosquitoes from dual-wavelength polarization-sensitive backscattered signals

Discipline: Physics

Presenter:

Adrien P. Genoud

Abstract:

Improving the survey of mosquito populations is of the utmost importance to further enhance mitigation techniques that protect human populations from mosquito-borne diseases. While mosquito populations are generally studied using physical traps, stand-off optical sensors allow to study insect ecosystems with potentially better spatial and temp```oral resolution. This can be greatly beneficial to eco-epidemiological models and various mosquito control programs. In this contribution, we demonstrate that the gravidity of female mosquitoes can be identified from changes in their spectral and polarimetric backscattered cross-sections. Among other predictive variables, the wing beat frequency and the depolarization ratio of the mosquito body allows for the identification of gravid females with a precision and recall of 86.1 and 87.3 % respectively. Since female mosquitoes need a blood meal to become gravid, statistics on gravidity is of prime importance as only females that have been gravid might carry infectious diseases. In addition, it allows to detect possible breeding habitat, predict a potential increase in the mosquito population, and provide a better overall understanding of the ecosystem dynamics. As a result, targeted and localized mitigation techniques can be used, reducing the cost and improving the efficiency of mosquito population control.

Author(s):

Adrien P. Genoud Yunpeng Gao Gregory M. Williams Benjamin P. Thomas

Funding Acknowledgements:

Research reported in this contribution was supported by the National Institutes of Health, USA, under award number R03AI138133. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.