New Brunswickers trap mosquitoes all summer for scientific study
CBC
It's not often that you kill a mosquito with perfection without squishing it or making it lose a wing or a leg.
This summer, some New Brunswickers displayed their talent for smacking the tiny pest just hard enough to make it faint, with some even catching them alive using a small bottle.
This was not just a fun summer pastime.
It's all part of a study on mosquitoes led by a group of researchers from Acadia University.
They asked people who visited Riverview's Mill Creek Nature Park and the Kouchibouguac National Park to help them gather mosquitoes as part of their project looking at the effects of climate change on the mosquito population.
Empty vials were provided at stations at both locations.
Once a mosquito was successfully caught, participants were asked to put it into the vial and drop it off at the same station.
The activity is one of the three methods that Acadia University students are using to research and develop a mosquito surveillance network, said Laura Ferguson, professor of biology.
She said the research will help update the historical data, learn how climate change is affecting mosquitoes and find new invasive species across the Maritimes.
"We have about 40 species in the Maritimes and we have enjoyed a very sort of low risk of mosquito-borne disease here for a long time," she said.
"But as things start to warm up, we're expecting some changes in our mosquito populations. And so what we really want to do is be proactive and keep an eye on things, and detect any changes before they start to hit us hard."
The community engagement stations were only set up at the two New Brunswick locations in June and July, but collections began in Nova Scotia in May 2021, she said.
The group used stick apparatus called dippers to scoop out mosquito larvae from water, and light traps containing carbon dioxide were used to bait adult mosquitoes in Nova Scotia, said Ferguson.
She said the group later expanded their collection area to New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and all are coming to a conclusion this fall.
Canada is preparing for U.S. President Donald Trump to hit the country with potentially devastating tariffs on Tuesday, but the federal government and the premiers say they are in the dark about what will actually materialize and how high those promised levies will be.
Former P.E.I. Premier Dennis King has been appointed as Canada's new ambassador to Ireland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday in a news release.
Oxford and Elgin counties have the highest number of measles cases in the country, the province's public health agency says, as local medical officials warn of more possible exposures to the deadly virus.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford will take questions from media Monday for the first time since his Progressive Conservatives won their third-straight majority in a snap election last week.
Newfoundland and Labrador is staring down federal, provincial, and municipal elections in the next eight months, but for one new Canadian the opportunity to vote is something she's not taking for granted.
Even with a dirt trench running down the hallway, and exposed wires and pipes hanging from the ceiling, it still kind of looks like an elementary school.
Some of the most affordable rental housing in Nova Scotia is rapidly becoming less so, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data analyzed by CBC News.
A two-time federal Conservative candidate in Miramichi says he doesn't think current party MP Jake Stewart can win again in a federal election that is expected to start within weeks.
Quebec municipalities and human rights groups are voicing concerns about proposed legislation that would require newcomers to abide by a set of common values.
Amazon and Walmart Canada have so far ignored the NDP government's requests to restrict the online sale of machetes to Manitobans, the province says.
Saskatoon city council is seeking money to crack down on unlicensed short-term rentals in the city, like those on AirBnB and VRBO, amid an active moratorium on licensing certain new short-term rentals.
When Kwaku Ayisi lost a friend who hadn't even reached 40 to breast cancer, it inspired him to look at the barriers Black women face in Saskatchewan's breast-health system.
A northern Alberta town is losing its only family doctor clinic and officials are trying to find solutions before the doors close for good at the end of May.