Mozzie Monitors is a national citizen science mosquito monitoring program. It investigates the mosquito fauna in Australia, identifying species of medical and ecological importance.
The program started at the University of South Australia in 2018 and has scaled to all states and territories in Australia since then. Professor Craig Williams has also expanded the program to South Australian schools. The Learning By Doing program is now collaborating with UniSA to align Mozzie Monitors with the NSW curriculum.
A/Prof Cameron Webb (@Mozziebites) from the University of Sydney and NSW Health Pathology answers some questions about mosquitoes.
By tracking mosquitoes, the project focuses on preventing mosquito-borne diseases such as Japanese and Murray Valley encephalitis. This project includes an 8-week lesson plan for NSW schools and instructions to use mosquito traps and iNaturalist for species surveillance.
Photo: Mosquitoes collected by Mozzie Monitors using a BG-GAT trap.
Photo: Toxorhynchites speciosus, observed in QLD by (c)aynature, a citizen scientist using iNaturalist.
In the Mozzie Monitors workshops, schools will participate in a national mosquito surveillance program.
Students will contribute to mosquito and public health research while learning about their local mosquito fauna. They will also be able to compare the results from two scientific methods in mosquito monitoring: trap and app!
Learning By Doing 