Week 1
Today was my first day of my internship! I was so excited to finally meet everyone I have been emailing for the past two months and obtain a better idea of the specifics of the project PhD student Ben Gregory has carried on with Dr. Fritz regarding the spatiotemporal organization of Culex mosquitos along an urbanization gradient. They have proposed that the relative abundance and distribution three West Nile virus vectors, Culex. pipens, Cx. restuans, and Cx. quinquefasciatus have been influenced by the rise of new niches novel in cities driven by urbanization. This research can be applied to raise questions of current city design, and how urban areas might be contribute to the public health issue that is West Nile virus, and how might cities be designed or innovated in the future to reduce the opportunity for niches that promote these vector species habitation. From a public health and epidemiological perspective I find this research to be fascinating, I had previously no...