The Effects of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products on Mosquito Oviposition Site Selection

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Tara Lynn Edwards (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: The products that humans use every day to shower , drink , prevent sickness , protect their crops , etc. are having an effect on the environment. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products , or PPCPs , have been becoming notable threats to the environment for several decades now. In this study , the effects of caffeine , DEET , triclosan , and a mixture of the three were tested in water with Gambusia kairomones to determine whether the PPCPs are having an effect on a mosquito's ability detect a predator's presence in a body of water. The mean population size for all of the treatments decreased when predator kairomones were present except for DEET which increased (p=0.59 , f=6 , t=0.942). Caffeine present a mildly significant increase from the control when there were no kairomones present (p=0.09 , f=6 , t=-1.881). The effect sizes varied between treatment groups with the most notable difference presented in DEET whose mean population was 65.9% of the control when the predator was absent , but with the kairomones , the effect size was 148.4% larger than without. This indicated an increase in the mosquito population in the predator treatment when DEET , the insect repellant , is present. This study is attempts to illustrate the effects that PPCPs are having on the surrounding environment and the organisms that inhabit it. Masking a predator's presence could lead to population depletion of many species (i.e. mosquitoes) causing detrimental damage in the trophic cascade of the local ecosystems.

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Language: English

Date: 2018

Keywords

PPCPs Ovipostion

Subjects

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