Assessing the possibility of using entomopathogenic fungi for mosquito control in Hawaii

Currently the Hawaiian government is using chemical pesticides and bacteria for mosquito control, which can pose a threat to the environment and be expensive. At the same time, the mosquitoes can potentially develop a resistance toward the chemicals. An alternative agent for mosquito control is entomopathogenic fungi, which can kill or disable insect while they are non-pathogenic to plants and mammals. The mechanism of entomopathogenic fungi involves penetrating the cuticle of insects to disable or kill them. The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of entomopathogenic fungi as a more sustainable mosquito-control method in Hawaii. I isolated Metarhizium anisopliae from soil samples in Honolulu, Hawaii using insect bait method. Then the fungi was tested on the larvae of Culex Quinquefasciatus with concentrations of 1*10^4 conidia/mL and 1*10^5 conidia/mL. The result is the more concentrated fungal solution is more virulent to the larvae. For this experiment, the value of LC 50 after three days of fungi application is 3.16*10^4 conidia/mL, meaning that this concentration will be able to kill half of the larvae in 3 days. The application of this research is that a sustainable approach to mosquito control can be obtained by using entomopathogenic fungi, protecting many native species from the diseases carried by Culex mosquitoes. For instance, the native bird population in Hawaii is under the threat of avian malaria, which is a diseased transmitted by Culex mosquitoes.