Researcher Joel E. Cohen, from Rockefeller University and colleagues at the University of Haifa in Israel originally intended to study the predator-prey interactions, but their research into mosquitoes may have more long range application. The study was originally published in the July issue of Ecology Letters.

In the research, the team focused on two insect species: the larvae of the mosquito C. longiareolata and the backswimmer N. maculata, its predator. By studying these two insects in temporary pools in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, they determined that female mosquitoes are less likely to lay their eggs in a pool in which the backswimmers have emitted a chemical. 

Two chemicals were identified and mosquitoes can detect the chemicals of the backswimmers from above the surface of the water. It is possible from this study that one day will enable us to better control disease-carrying mosquito populations.

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