Planned changes to mosquito pathogen status data product (DP1.10041.001)

The strategy for mosquito pathogen testing is being reconsidered due to extremely low numbers of positive mosquito pathogen tests performed over the past decade. NEON staff have been reviewing the data collected to date and discussing options with the Mosquito Technical Working Group in recent months. NEON is inviting feedback through this survey from the broader community to guide the recommendation to the NSF on the preferred future direction for this data product.

The survey includes substantial background information to ensure that users are aware of the various pros and cons of each option. We are also offering a webinar on Monday, May 20 at 12pm MDT to walk through the survey and provide an opportunity for questions and answers. The options being considered include:

1. Focus on additional collection of target vectors and West Nile virus (WNV) testing in a smaller geographic study range with more reliable WNV presence to enhance modeling utility of data
2. Move towards a metagenomics approach to mosquito-borne virus testing that explores the mosquito virome rather than PCR testing for individual viruses
3. Generate a dataset that will complement disease ecology studies and test bloodfed mosquitoes to understand what hosts they fed upon

The last year of mosquito pathogen data under the current testing format will be for mosquitoes collected in 2022. This change will apply to all sites. An update with additional information about the future direction of mosquito pathogen data is planned in September 2024.