Mosquito population control through the use of chemosterilants.

Abstract

Summary The sterile male release technique is reviewed as an approach to population control of certain Anopheles and Culex mosquitoes. Formulas for the sterile male release technique are presented to illustrate the concepts behind the method, and the usefulness of insect sterilization as a biological tool in determining the dynamics of populations which are needed to determine requirements for controlling populations. Recent field experiments on the release of sterile males into a population of Culex p. quinquefasciatus are reviewed. In these experiments essential elimination of a natural population occurred as a result of the release of sterile insects. Calculations demonstrated the numbers and dynamics of the population, and approximate maximum of a 10-fold rate of increase of the population from generation to generation when the population density was reduced by total population control.