Frequency response analysis of Mosquito swarming behaviour

Abstract

Mosquitoes are often called the deadliest animal on earth, responsible for spreading several diseases that result in more than a million deaths worldwide every year. Mosquito swarming is a form of collective behavior that precedes mating in the wild, thus constituting an important stage to intercept for controlling mosquito population. Understanding this behaviour can help in determining non-invasive methods to reduce mosquito population by precluding instances of swarming. This project uses methods from control systems theory and system identification to characterize the coupling between mosquito swarms and high-contrast regions called markers over which they form. A laboratory microcosm is developed to stimulate swarming in the malarial mosquito Anopheles stephensi. The microcosm is used to conduct frequency-response experiments, where the mosquito swarm is observed as the marker is moved in a sinusoidal motion. Analysis indicates that this coupling between the swarm and marker can be characterized by a second order system.