Mosquito surveillance measures the numbers of mosquitoes in an area. We are primarily interested in those species that cause problems, either as nuisance or health related.  Three factors are monitored: Telephone requests for mosquito control services, the adult mosquito population, and immature mosquito population.  
  
Telephone Service Requests
Residents call to request mosquito control services. Their names and addresses recorded on a log kept daily.  Spray trucks or aircraft are used when the complaint log shows concentrations of mosquitoes.  An inspector may be sent to verify the service request when other methods indicate no mosquito problem in the area.  When the cause of the service request is a container breeding species, the inspector usually corrects the problem by emptying any containers found breeding.  Large or numerous containers uncorrectable by the inspector may require code enforcement action.

Monitoring Adult Mosquitoes
The two methods used most often to monitor adult mosquitoes are landing rates and mechanical traps.  These methods are used primarily during the summer months.

Landing Rates
Landing rates are used to monitor adult mosquito activity.  Mosquitoes landing on an inspector are counted for 1-3 minutes.  It is most useful for monitoring salt marsh mosquitoes, and for day-biting container breeding mosquitoes.

Mechanical Traps
The New Jersey light Trap and the Center for Disease Control light traps are the types used in Miami-Dade County.  These traps usually operate overnight, collecting mosquitoes that are sorted to species, and their numbers recorded.  This information is useful as it provides a historical record of species collected in various areas of the County, and provides valuable information on the effectiveness of spray operations.

Monitoring Immature Mosquito Populations
Known mosquito breeding sites are inspected twice weekly during the summer months. Each known mosquito-breeding site is dipped at regular intervals with a white pint dipper.  The number of mosquito larvae found, and their stage of development provides information for timing the occurrence of adult mosquitoes.  Naturally occurring  mosquito breeding  areas are treated with insecticide to kill the mosquito larvae.