Poster Display
Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology
Michael Cavallaro
Pest Abatement Manager
City of Bullhead
Bullhead City, Arizona
Dawn Gouge
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Synchronous pulses of adult aquatic insects, exiting the aquatic environment, are known to disrupt outdoor recreation, threaten waterfront businesses, induce asthmatic or dermal reactions, and create unsafe driving and boating conditions. Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and Chironomidae are among the most common taxa to cause nuisance issues from dense mating swarms near waterbodies. From the perspective of waterfront property owners, facing insect swarms is especially undesirable. Below the Davis Dam along the lower Colorado River Basin is a characteristic example, and Bullhead City, Arizona is among the river-based municipalities seasonally overwhelmed by swarms of the net-spinning caddisfly, Smicridea fasciatella (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae). To assess the nuisance status of S. fasciatella, a baseline survey of riverfront residents was conducted in 2021, and to evaluate S. fasciatella abatement strategies, a follow up survey was distributed in 2024. We approached this study with the following objectives: (1) to characterize the trends in resident perception by location, length of residency, recreational activity; (2) to determine when S. fasciatella was considered a nuisance and observations made by residents from daily (swarming activity) to seasonal (flight periods); (3) to assess the timing (i.e., daily and seasonal) and severity of the impact of S. fasciatella swarms on resident quality of life; (4) to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of S. fasciatella abatement strategies. A tolerance threshold for nuisance activity is integral to the success of future abatement strategies, and the perspectives from affected residents need to be better understood to improve quality of life and determine potential public health risks.