Kauais endemic honeycreepers are crashing due to increased prevalence of avian malaria and its mosquito vector, culex quinquefasciatus, due to climate change

The endangered akikiki and akekee are of special concern. Themost promising strategy for managing avian malaria is mosquito population suppression via the incompatible insecttechnique (IIT). The first trial 3000-acre (12.2 SQ KM) IIT deployment on kauai is targeted for fall 2024 withbi-weekly releases of incompatible male mosquitoes for six months. Here we propose to characterize mosquitopopulation distributions during the six months of releases at the treatment site (mohihi upper kawaikoi) and asmaller, ecologically similar reference site (lower kawaikoi) to assess impact and refine release strategies. Wewill monitor male and female mosquito abundance at both sites weekly for six months during releases using bgtraps and EGG hatch rates using ovipots. Mosquito specimens will be screened with PCR for avian malaria bynorthern arizona university. Weekly, we will run 100 trap sites in a grid that covers the 12.2 SQ KM treatmentand 50 trap sites in a grid that covers the 6.1 SQ KM control area. Vector population data will be used toinform models of the numbers of incompatible male mosquitoes needed to over-flood wild males and limitreproduction. Post-release, we will assess abundance of female mosquitoes in the treatment site VS. The controlsite to quantify vector population reduction and also prevalence of malaria in both sites. We will also estimatedispersal distances and survival of released males.