Course Description
Students will develop skills and acquire knowledge of arthropod vectors in the southeast. Students will be exposed to and perform a variety of standard entomological techniques for vector identification and taxonomy, field-based techniques for capturing or attracting vectors, and how these techniques are used by various agencies and personnel for vector control.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students enrolled in the course may be required to complete one or more of the following:
- An independent collection of locally sourced and correctly identified and mounted vectors.
- A vector/disease factsheet for regionally relevant vectors in the southeast.
- A short report covering expanding ranges and hosts for vectors of public, agricultural, or wildlife health importance.
Athena Title
Vector Ecology Field Course
Non-Traditional Format
This Maymester course will take place during a two to three-week period at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory near Aiken, South Carolina. Additional field sites may include the Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe near Savannah, Georgia, and The Jones Center in Ichauway, Georgia.
Prerequisite
[(BIOL 1103 or BIOL 1103E or BIOL 2103H) and BIOL 1103L] or [(BIOL 1107 or BIOL 1107E or BIOL 2107H) and BIOL 1107L]
Semester Course Offered
Offered summer semester every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will actively be engaged in and learn the fundamentals of vector surveillance, identification, and management responses. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 1) Perform surveillance techniques for the capturing of various vector species, including tick dragging, tick flagging, deployment of light traps for flying vectors, gravid/oviposition traps for mosquitoes, and sampling water sources for mosquito egg rafts. 2) Apply taxonomic keys for accurate species-level identification of vectors found within Georgia. 3) Understand transmission dynamics of vector species, and analyze how climate, landscape, and host changes affect disease outcomes. 4) Evaluate the effectiveness of various vector control management schemes used by control programs in urban and rural areas.
Topical Outline
1) What makes a vector? Understanding how vectors are defined, and the diversity of arthropods that are known vectors 2) Ecology of southeastern vector species 3) Identification and morphology of tick and mosquito vectors 4) Mosquito and tick biology – from egg to bloodmeal to pathogen transmission 5) The vector-borne disease cycle and transmission dynamics 6) Vector sampling techniques 7) Control and management of southeastern vectors 8) Emerging vector-pathogen issues and climate change