Control of flies on the Upper Rhine

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Aedimorphus vexans , former name Aedes vexans

The mosquito control on the Upper Rhine (or mosquito control and control on the Upper Rhine ) takes place in the municipal network in the catchment area of ​​the Upper Rhine aquifer . The main goal is to keep the population of endemic mosquito species within reasonable limits for the general public.

Catchment area

Development of the field of application of the mosquito control on the Upper Rhine (source: KABS)

In Palatine, of Bavarian and Baden dialect falsely as mosquitoes called mosquitoes (Culicidae) were especially after the straightening of meandering Upper Rhine by Johann Gottfried Tulla in 1817 to everyday life of the population. The massive hydrological redesign of the river basin only came to an end with the construction and commissioning of the Iffezheim barrage in 1977. The arms of the Old Rhine, separated from the main stream, were transformed into still waters , also known as Gießen , and form one of the most attractive cultural landscapes in Europe. Especially at times of flooding in spring and summer, a floodplain landscape is created by the pressurized water of the Rhine , rainfalls and snowmelt, in which the arms of the old Rhine can assume many times their natural extent and with other flood areas serve as a breeding ground for gnats (mosquitoes), which can be found without being controlled turn into a plague.

Above all, the meadow and alluvial forest mosquitoes Aedimorphus vexans (formerly also known as Aedes vexans or Rhine schnake ) and the Ochlerotatus sticticus , but also wood mosquitoes (woodcock) such as Ochlerotatus cantans , Aedes communis , Aedes rusticus , Ochlerotatus punctor . The formation of many, sometimes enormous, temporary bodies of water in the flood zones promotes a mass development of these species, whose development cycle requires still waters. In this article, the term Schnake and mosquito control is retained as a linguistic usage, but at the same time always means mosquito and mosquito control. In addition to the flood mosquitoes listed above, house flies are also fought, depending on the help of the population. For several years, special attention has been paid to immigrated species such as the Asian tiger mosquito and endemic anopheles species .

Almost three million people now live in the catchment area of ​​the Upper Rhine mosquito control. The catchment area extends in the south from Sasbach to Bingen in the north and thus accompanies around 300 km of the course of the Rhine. The mosquito breeding area covers around 60,000 hectares, some of which are difficult to access in the event of flooding. The costs of combating it amount to around one to 1.5 euros per inhabitant and year; Fluctuations arise primarily due to the weather conditions and the associated control effort. By combating the mosquito nuisance, the burden of mosquitoes is reduced by up to 99% in the mosquito species that are controlled over a large area. For the control of the house flies, which can also occur to a considerable extent in the catchment area, one is dependent on the cooperation of the population, which is guaranteed by educational measures and free provision of biological active ingredients in the form of tablets in the communities. In addition, there are many smaller and larger nature and landscape protection areas in the catchment area.

Problem

Female mosquito incidence without control (taboo zone Kühkopf, 11,200 mosquitoes) and with control (Au am Rhein, 151 mosquitoes) measured by night traps on September 14, 2005

The aedes vexans can produce several generations of mosquitoes with enormous populations in one year. In the vicinity of the breeding grounds themselves, the need for host animals can usually not be met, which leads to migratory movements that make massive occurrences possible at a distance of up to 30 km from the hatchery, which in the densely populated area of ​​the Upper Rhine leads to considerable nuisance for the population .

At the same time, the alluvial forest landscapes, the bank dikes and floodplain areas represent a natural recreational area for the surrounding population, so that other species such as the alluvial forest snakes can also become a considerable nuisance, as agricultural and forestry use also leads to a decline in natural predators.

In the catchment area where the gnat control is located, there are also ideal climatic conditions in settlement areas for the mosquitoes Culex pipiens (house snake or common mosquito) and the Culiseta annulata (calendula or large house mosquito), whose females also overwinter in cellars and similar rooms.

Mosquitoes do not play an epidemiological role as disease vectors ( vectors ) in Germany or the Upper Rhine . Nevertheless, due to the isolated occurrence of invasive mosquito species, special attention is paid to vector control.

history

One of the aims of straightening the Rhine was to curb malaria , which is the German term for malaria , which is transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes .

The history of communal control of the mosquito plague in Alsatian, Hessian, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg communities on the Rhine begins in 1910 with the establishment of the first cross-communal action group under the name of the Association for the Control of Mosquitoes and Flies , based in Mannheim. In many communities it was hardly possible to stay outdoors from spring to autumn. At this time, larvae in the fourth instar, but especially the mosquito pupae, were controlled by applying petroleum derivatives (e.g. Saprol) to the surface of water. The adults , i.e. the flyable mosquitoes, were fought in winter with smoke and pesticides , including the Floria insecticide. In 1936 the working group changed its name to the Association for Combating the Mosquito Plague . Until the 1950s, the citizens were also obliged by police ordinances under threat of punishment to carry out measures such as the insecticide treatment of basements. In other regions bordering the Rhine there were also relatively unsuccessful attempts at control, for example in Karlsruhe in 1930 and in Strasbourg after 1945 .

After the Second World War , there were first attempts, followed by extensive control from 1973 in cooperation with BASF, first between Speyer and Germersheim . Many smaller municipalities and cities bordering the Rhine had previously experienced a significant increase in population and, above all, the population who had moved from other regions and cities demanded that the plague be contained after years of heavy infestation due to the weather in the early 1970s. During the large-scale, flight-assisted control with insecticides, not only the Rhine snakes ( Aedes vexans ) were recorded. Effects on the ecosystem, especially those parts of the floodplain landscape that are under nature and landscape protection , demanded species-specific and sensitive, near-natural control. This should both meet the needs of the population and guarantee the ecologically necessary basic stock of Rhine schnaken.

In 1976 a municipal association was founded, which soon introduced ecologically more sensible control methods in cooperation with the University of Heidelberg . In the first few years, instead of chemical control with insecticides , physiological methods were used and, after initial attempts at the beginning of the 1980s, biological control agents were increasingly used from 1984 onwards. The association grew steadily over the years in order to finally contain the plague from Bingen and Mainz in the north and to the Swiss border over a total length of around 300 km left and right of the Rhine. The association served as a model for control measures in other regions of Germany with wetlands ( Chiemsee , Elbe , Oder ) and associated mosquito plagues. Control measures have also been introduced in cooperation outside of Germany, for example in the Ebro Delta and the Llobregat Delta in Spain. The European Mosquito Control Association was founded in 1998 and is based in Waldsee, as is the municipal action group to combat the snake plague , or KABS for short .

Extensive forest areas such as the Bienwald in the southern Palatinate are now also part of the control area. Irrespective of this, control measures are taking place on the French side of the Alsace river .

Until the mid-1970s, ecological considerations hardly played a role. Today the aim of the fight is to achieve a reasonable balance of interests between nature conservation and the desire of the people to contain the plague, as paragraph 2 tasks of the association statutes of the responsible working group expresses: “The task of the KABS is to contain the gnat plague while protecting the Environment with ecologically acceptable means. ". Under this condition, the insects in ecologically valuable zones, also taking into account the proximity to settlement in so-called taboo zones, are controlled less or not at all.

Control and control concept

→ See also mosquitoes , Aedimorphus vexans , common mosquito and marigold for biology and lifestyle.
→ See also the local community of action to combat the snake plague for the control and control.

An essential factor for the development of sustainable and environmentally conscious control and control concepts requires coordination and knowledge of the specifics of the mosquito species being controlled. The Aedes vexans (Rhine Schnake) is one of the most common species in the catchment area where the gnat control is located and accounts for up to 80% of the plague. It belongs to the type of flood mosquito, which is characterized by the fact that the eggs of the previous mosquito generation come into contact with water through flooding and start their embryonic development. In the forest snakes that are also controlled, temperatures from four degrees Celsius are sufficient, so that they often hatch in February and March with the first floods, whereas Rhine snakes need higher temperatures of at least ten degrees Celsius. After hatching, the mosquito develops into a pupa through four larval stages. From this the airworthy imago hatches as the actual mosquito, whereby only the females would be described as mosquitoes, since they need blood to produce the eggs after insemination. The aedes vexans is also polycyclic and can, in extreme cases, depending climatological create conditions for up to ten generations in a year. The development of three to four populations in the catchment area is quite normal.

For the control of the common mosquito and the calendula, however, the help of the population must be relied on, since the life cycle and way of life allow these mosquitoes to spread in the home environment. Regular education of the population about preventive measures as well as the free provision of control agents is part of the control and control concept.

Nature reserves in the catchment area (selection)

Dew pouring

Landscape protection areas in the catchment area (selection)

Literature (selection)

Contemporary

  • N. Becker, P. Glaser, H. Magin: Biological mosquito control on the Upper Rhine. Festschrift 20 years of municipal action group to combat the gnat plague. 1996, ISBN 3-00-000584-6 .
  • N. Becker, D. Petric, M. Zgomba, C. Boase, M. Madon, C. Dahl, A. Kaiser: Mosquitos and Their Control. 2nd Edition. 2010, ISBN 978-3-540-92873-7 .
  • E. Bettag: Investigation of side effects on insects when using fenethcarb to control mosquitoes. In: Communications from Pollichia. 66, 1978, pp. 117-134.
  • S. Blum: Investigations on the food ecology of frogs (Amphibia, Anura) of the Rhineland-Palatinate floodplain with a view to combating mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae). Dissertation. Univ. Giessen 1998.
  • U. Fillinger: Faunistic and ecotoxicological studies with Bti on dipteras of the northern Upper Rhine floodplain with special consideration of the distribution and phenology of native mosquito species (Chironomidae). Dissertation. Univ. Heidelberg, 1999.
  • Peter Havelka: Control of Rhine snakes (culicids) on the right bank of the Rhine between Karlsruhe and Mannheim in 1977. Culicid breeding grounds. In: Publ. Nature Conservation Landscape Management Bad.-Württ. 47/48, Karlsruhe 1978, pp. 423-441.
  • J. Lange: On the history of water protection on the Upper and High Rhine. A case study on environmental and biology history. Dissertation. Freiburg 2002.
  • LA Lacey: Bacillus thuringiensis serovariety israelensis and Bacillus sphaericus for mosquito control. In: J AM MOSQ ASSOC. 23, 2007, pp. 133-163.
  • LA Lacey, RW Merrit: The Safety of Bacterial Microbial Agents used for Black Fly and Mosquito Control Lacey. In: H. Hokkanen, A. Hajek (Ed.): Assessment of Environmental Safety of Biological Insecticides. Dordrecht, Netherlands 2003.
  • R. Leiner: Recording and modeling of the spatial and temporal flood surface dynamics in floodplains using the example of the northern Upper Rhine. Dissertation. Heidelberg 2002.
  • N. Rieder, L. Köhler, H. Ott: Control of the Rhine Schnaken in the Upper Rhine Plain. About the possibilities of flies control by amphibians, especially by newts. In: Publication of nature conservation and landscape maintenance Bad.-Württ. 55/56, Karlsruhe 1983.
  • N. Rieder, H. Ott, M. Lamm, W. Rieger, H. Spaniol: Control of Rhine Schnaken in the Upper Rhine Plain in 1978. First results on the side effects of Liparol in the control of Rhine Schnaken larvae. In: Publ. Nature Conservation Landscape Management Bad.-Württ. 49/50. Karlsruhe 1979.

Historical

  • Giemsa spray process. In: Arch. F. Sch.- u. Trop-Hyg. H. 6, 1913.
  • Ms. Glaser: Report on combating the snake plague in the Grand Duchy of Baden. Mannheim 1910-1911.
  • Mühlen's mosquito eradication, u. Fight against malaria in Bant b. Wilhelmshaven. 1. Supplement z. Arch. I. Ship and Trop-Hyg. 1912.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Signature campaign against the Kühkopf taboo zone. ( Memento from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Darmstädter Echo online edition. November 12, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b formally eaten up. In: Der Spiegel. 18/1976. (spiegel.de)
  3. ^ Environmental report of the Ludwigshafen am Rhein district. 1999, p. 123.
  4. ↑ Malaria. In: German Colonial Lexicon. Volume II, 1920, p. 483 ff.
  5. ↑ How to fight mosquitoes: In the past with oil and smoke. In: Darmstädter Echo online edition. August 2, 2011.
  6. ↑ N. Becker, P. Glaser, H. Magin: Biological mosquito control on the Upper Rhine. 20 years of municipal action group to combat the mosquito plague. 1996, p. 14f.
  7. ↑ P. Havelka: Control of the Rhine Schnaken in the Upper Rhine Plain in 1976. - Impairment of non-target groups, shown using the example of midges (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae). In: Publ. Nature Conservation Landscape Management Bad.-Württ. 46, Karlsruhe 1977.
  8. ↑ Snake hunters sometimes end up in the water. In: The Rhine Palatinate . September 20, 2008.
  9. ^ European Mosquito Control Association
  10. ^ Association statutes of the KABS

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