Side effects of mosquito defense: broad spectrum insecticides kill the pollinators of rare native flowers

Posted by on July 22, 2016
Brittany Harris records data on rare regional plants at a field site in the Florida Keys. Credit Brittany Harris.

Brittany Harris records data on rare regional plants at a field site in the Florida Keys. Credit Brittany Harris.

As an example of the costs of mosquito suppression, three imperiled native plants in the Lower Florida Keys suffer indirectly from the spraying of insecticides in housing developments flanking National Key Deer Refuge. Harris will present her work in a poster session on Conservation at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America in southern Florida this August.

A sweat bee (Dialictus sp.) collects pollen from a sand flax flower (Linum arenicola), a rare perennial found only in Dade county and the Florida Keys. Credit Brittany Harris.

A sweat bee (Dialictus sp.) collects pollen from a sand flax flower (Linum arenicola), a rare perennial found only in Dade county and the Florida Keys. Credit Brittany Harris.

  • PS 11-27 -Pesticides and pollination of imperiled plants in the Lower Florida Keys
  • Tuesday, August 9, 2016, ESA Exhibit Hall, Ft Lauderdale Convention Center
  • Brittany Harris, Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL

Browse more presentations about mosquito ecology at the 2016 Annual Meeting.

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