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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Vegetated Treatment Systems for Removing Contaminants Associated with Surface Water Toxicity in Agriculture and Urban Runoff
Published on: May 15, 2017
Vegetation management to stimulate denitrification increases mosquito abundance in multipurpose constructed treatment
William E Walton1, Joshua A Jiannino
1Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Abstract:
Inundation of dried emergent vegetation that has been knocked down using heavy equipment is a vegetation management strategy that provides an inexpensive source of supplemental organic carbon to stimulate denitrification, a process important for nitrate removal in constructed treatment wetlands. The abundance of larval mosquitoes (Culex sp. and Culiseta sp.) in multipurpose constructed wetlands that had undergone autumnal vegetation management intended primarily to enhance denitrifying bacteria was significantly higher than in wetlands that remained in continuous operation. Mosquito abundance in wetlands that had undergone vegetation management during autumn was much lower than that observed during spring in a previous study; nevertheless, vegetation management practices that inundate dried, felled macrophytes are contraindicated for mosquito control.
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