Smiling person wearing a wide-brimmed hat against a clear blue sky and green landscape. — Postdoctoral scholar and mosquito ecologist Benjamin Nyman of UC Riverside will speak on "Ecological Explorations in the Mosquito Surveillance Landscape" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar at 12:10 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 18 in 122 Briggs Hall.

'Ecological Explorations in the Mosquito Surveillance Landscape'

That's the Topic of Benjamin Nyman's Seminar on Feb. 18

by Kathy Keatley Garvey
February 12, 2026

A close-up of a mosquito perched on a person's fingertip. — A close-up of the mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Postdoctoral scholar and mosquito ecologist Benjamin Nyman of the UC Riverside Department of Entomology will speak on "Ecological Explorations in the Mosquito Surveillance Landscape" at a seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology at 12:10 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 18 in 122 Briggs Hall.

His seminar also will be on Zoom at https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

“The global disease burden of mosquito vectored pathogens is projected to expand under climate and land-use change conditions, creating a growing need for research into the interactions between these vectors and the environments they occupy,” Nyman says in his abstract. “During my doctoral research, I investigated the role of water-holding plants like bromeliads in facilitating the expansion of invasive Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in California. This spanned questions about habitat suitability, competition, and control, concluding with an exploration into plant use across a district. Limited local surveillance data collected for this work was then used to examine methods of modeling spatial and environmental partitioning of mosquito species. After graduating, I became more interested in how surveillance data shapes our understanding of mosquito ecology, particularly how operational characteristics interact with analytical frameworks to influence downstream decision-making. Because of this variability, effective public health agencies need generalized and objective methods of evaluating surveillance data and its products to improve integrated vector management programs."

Accessibility, Cost and Logistics

"The establishment of mosquito surveillance sites is often driven by accessibility, cost, and logistics rather than ecological representativeness," Nyman continued. "As a result, surveillance networks may provide limited inference about mosquito communities and their environmental contexts. To evaluate this, we compared two concurrent surveillance networks: a traditional hotspot-based arboviral network targeting Culex quinquefasciatus, and a centroid-based grid network designed for unbiased spatial coverage. Focal comparisons included community detection, environmental representativeness, and predictive model performance under contrasting trap placement strategies. Results demonstrate that surveillance design influences both ecological inference and model reliability. Reallocating a portion of arboviral surveillance effort toward spatially structured, unbiased trapping can enhance environmental representativeness, strengthen predictive capacity, and expand the ecological and operational value of mosquito surveillance networks."

Three smiling individuals pose together in a conference setting with empty chairs in the background. — CC Edwards takes a selfie of Ben Nyman and his wife and fellow entomologist, Hannah Chu. She is a recent graduate of UC Riverside, where she won the John Henry Comstock Award last year from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America. She is now on the faculty of John Jay College.

Nyman holds a bachelor of science degree from UC Berkeley (2017) in molecular environmental biology, and a doctorate in entomology from UC Riverside, awarded in 2022. He has served as a full-time postdoctoral researcher at UC Riverside since 2024.

He will be introduced by his colleague, doctoral candidate Carla-Christina (CC) Edwards of the lab of medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Nyman and Edwards co-moderated a symposium at the 2024 American Mosquito Control Association meeting in Dallas, Texas, on "Adult Control II," focusing on advanced techniques for controlling adult mosquito populations.

Continuing Education Credit Units

"We recently received approval for continuing education units (CEUs) from the California Department of Public Health for this seminar," Edwards said. "This is a great opportunity for vector professionals who may benefit from the CEUs."

For any seminar technical issues, contact seminar coordinator Marshal McMunn, assistant professor, at [email protected].