ENY 6934 Arthropod Vector ID
Description
Insects and other arthropods play critical roles in the environment. In this course, we will focus on the role of arthropods as vectors of disease and learn how to identify to the species level the major arthropod vectors of human diseases.
Prerequisites
- No specific coursework is required, but students should have a good general knowledge of biology and basic entomology from undergraduate work.
Course Format
Online
Course Goals
- Define a vector and compare/contrast the different types of disease transmission.
- Discuss insects’ external and internal structures that are essential for arthropod identification.
- Identify the major arthropods the family, genus, and/or species level that transmit pathogens, causing disease in humans.
- Employ databases to find relevant journal articles related to insects and vector-borne diseases.
- Judge and critique scientific literature related to insects and human health.
- Create, judge and critique PowerPoint presentations on insect-vectored diseases.
- Create an arthropod surveillance tool targeting mosquitoes and ticks.
- Conduct a surveillance study during the course of the semester.
- Use Excel to compile data from the surveillance study.
- Report and assess surveillance data using iNaturalist.
- Create a short scientific report on the diversity of mosquitoes or ticks in the student’s geographic area.
- Design a PowerPoint presentation which discusses the scope and result obtained during the study
