Birds, not Mosquitoes, a collaborative, landscape-scale strategy to prevent the extinction of Hawaiian endangered forest birds

Des oiseaux, pas des moustiques, une stratégie collaborative à l'échelle du paysage pour empêcher l'extinction des oiseaux forestiers hawaïens en voie de disparition

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Learn about the biological and cultural importance of Hawaiian forest birds; use of the Incompatible Insect Technique (Wolbachia) to control mosquito-borne disease; challenges with landscape-scale implementation, regulatory requirements, and community engagement; and the collaborative multi-agency partnership, Birds Not Mosquitoes.

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The Hawaiian archipelago once had more than 50 species of endemic honeycreepers. Only 17 species remain; most could disappear in the next decade as invasive alien mosquitoes continue to spread avian malaria, a trend exacerbated by a warming climate. The 2016 WCC called for an expedited exploration of “all appropriate techniques” to control these mosquitoes. This presentation will describe the proposed use of Wolbachia bacteria as a “mosquito birth control” to prevent the extinction of these Hawaiian birds.