Experts in vector biology, surveillance, control and vector-borne diseases are getting older. Whilst attending a number of US vector control and society meetings over the years, I could not help but notice that most mosquito control professionals are getting close to retirement. Therefore, there is a critical need for a steady supply of young professionals to run vector surveillance and control operations, and conduct research on vectors and vector-borne diseases.

尽管该领域有一群出色的年轻研究人员，但我认识的大多数在学术界工作，因此在该领域的这些关键工作中缺乏熟练的工人。此外，政策制定者和美国公众对疾病媒介，媒介传播疾病以及对抗它们的重要性缺乏认识。围绕农药使用的问题更加复杂，这导致地方和州一级的资金低和不可预测。

The best way to combat both of these problems is to educate students in disease ecology as early as possible through hands on learning at the undergraduate level. As part of my new position as Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the Department of Biology at Eastern Washington University (https://www.ewu.edu/cshe/programs/biology），我有机会在今年夏天教一门名为生物学调查的课程。该课程的目的是将生物学的本科生揭露科学方法，如何阅读科学文章，帮助他们自己进行实验，分析结果并教他们科学沟通。班级仅在4周内跑。班级和研究项目的主题取决于讲师，我选择了疾病生态。

The nine students, listed below as coauthors, selected 1 of 3 projects available and conducted their projects in teams at and with the assistance of theTurnbull National Wildlife Refuge。作为他们在科学传播方面的作业的一部分，我要求他们为这篇文章起草一段，以描述他们的项目和经验。令我高兴的是，每个团队都从其项目中产生了有意义的，重要的结果，下面的摘录表明，在这么短的时间内，确实可以实现媒介和向量传播疾病的有意义的研究经验。学生不仅玩得开心，而且学到了很多关于他们项目的主题的知识：

tick：潜伏在您的自然步道上（Jennifer Headley，Naomi Matson和Diana McSwain）

关于Microhabitats Questing Ticks更喜欢的误解存在许多误解。在进行实验之前，我们本来可以预期从已知的小径徘徊到不受干扰的植被将增加tick虫相遇的可能性。使用通过拖动方法从三个100 m样带收集的样品数据，ANOVA单向测试（p <0.003048）表明，沿野生动植物径的壁虱比在未经扰动的草原或森林区域中更频繁地发现壁虱。Tukey HSD’s revealed that the wildlife trail transect had a significantly higher density (p<.01) when compared to the grassland transect, as well as a significantly higher density (p<.05) than the forest transect.While sticking to the trail and avoiding surrounding brush may seem like the best way to avoid getting bitten by a tick, in reality your best defence against tick bites is to dress appropriately and always take the time to thoroughly check yourself for ticks after exposure to the outdoors.

行为反应CulexMosquito Larvae to Changes in Diet (by Leann Ikeda, Amy McGowan and Stanislav Tsarevskiy)

According to the American Mosquito Control Association, “over one million people worldwide die from mosquito-borne diseases every year” (2013). The rates at which these diseases are spreading globally are increasing due to the growth in tourism and international air travel. Knowing what types of food adult mosquitoes and larvae thrive on or avoid could bring researchers one step closer to controlling this issue. Our experiment found thatCulexmosquito larvae responded differently to being fed different sources of food:Escherichia coli,酵母，或没有食物。当幼虫由于实验人员在小瓶上提供阴影而受到干扰时，与饥饿的幼虫相比，酵母喂养的幼虫在其底部的底部花费的时间明显较低（p <0.01）和大肠杆菌-fed larvae (p<0.05). Over time, the mosquito larvae also became acclimated to the shading and spent less time at the bottom of their vials after three trials (p<0.05). Additionally, the larvae from the yeast group had an overall higher survival rate (they lived an average of 76 ± 12.82 hours) than the larvae from the大肠杆菌组（52±7.14小时），其存活率又比对照组的幼虫高（48±5.12小时），但是该数据的结果并不显着。酵母组中的幼虫可能在小瓶底部花费的时间更少，并且由于获得了足够的营养，因此生存率更高。所有三个群体中的幼虫都适应着阴影，因为他们认识到没有真正的捕食者。我们现在知道，蚊子幼虫在由酵母组成的饮食中生存得更好大肠杆菌。确定哪些食物来源蚊子弗洛urish on, or have an aversion to, could bring science closer to more successful methods of mosquito control and mosquito-borne disease prevention.

The Importance of Mosquito Monitoring (by Bryce Burnett, Emily Proulx and Dillon Puhl)

Mosquitoes kill more humans than any other animal on the planet. The need to monitor mosquito movement, patterns, and genera is becoming increasingly important. With growing globalization and changes that come along with it, good scientific research and observations are needed. The first step in monitoring mosquitoes is location choice. We found that an area with ample still water, saturated topsoil, good shade and nesting animals is a good place to start. The second step is choosing your trapping method. However, in our experiment we have not found convincing evidence that choosing one type of trap would significantly increase our ability to capture mosquitoes, if enough are around. Finally, identifying the genera and species is a crucial step in mosquito monitoring; especially when genera such as Aedes, Anopheles and Culiseta are present. Mosquito research at Eastern Western University is lacking, perhaps because specimens “bite”, but future experiments should be encouraged due to the potential medical and economic impacts of disease-carrying insects.

These summaries clearly show that the students gained a lot of knowledge and experience about vectors and vector-borne diseases during this short class. In the future, inspired by this experience, some of them might decide to pursue a career in vector surveillance, vector control, or research on vectors and vector-borne diseases. In addition, as policy-makers and voters, they will be empowered and cognizant about the risk that vectors and the pathogens they transmit pose, and the importance of administrative and financial support to combat them. I encourage all fellow faculty to develop similar experiences in disease ecology for students, as they are not only useful, but also fun! Those of you who already do, please share your experiences below.