Mosquitoes need very little to survive. You’re likely to find them wherever there’s water. But surviving a long cold winter requires some particular adaptations. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“Overwintering is when the adult mosquito lays eggs. The larvae hatches and they live in the water and go through the winter and then in the springtime, the adult mosquitoes come out.”
Varuni Kulasekera is a research scientist at the American Museum of Natural History. She tells us that in warmer climates, where the seasons pass with only mild changes in temperature, mosquitoes can go through their egg-larvae-mosquito cycle two or three times in a single year. But in the coldest parts of the world, mosquitoes have to take advantage of the few warm months, giving their short life span a certain sense of urgency.
“The mosquitoes that breed in areas where the winter is long have a narrow window for them to develop and their density is very high and then they attack animals in order to get blood meals. Mosquitoes attack in huge swarms in areas like Alaska because they have a very short period to complete the life cycle. So they have to take enough blood and develop within a short period and then lay eggs and then the larvae hatch and they will continue through the winter at the larval stage.”
And if you happen to be in Alaska this summer and find yourself on the dinner menu of a swarm of mosquitoes, just remember they’ve got so much to do and so little time to do it in.
Additional funding for Pulse of the Planet has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.