Reflecting on being part of the WetlandLife team and how interdisciplinary working has shifted the way I view mosquitos
Kerry Morrison
11.07.18
The interdisciplinary nature of WetlandLIFE
The openness and inclusiveness
Has broadened my understanding
And my views
Of wetlands
Of mosquitos
Information exchanged
Put out there
Into the group
Relating to the collective research
Offers insights that we can delve in to
Or not
As we choose
Peter posted: in praise of the midges pestering footballers in the world cup
Gay responded:
…best of all for me is link at the end of the article to a study on the flight behaviour in swarms, which is what my colleague, Lionel, and I are working on in mosquitoes. It is an amazing study – so thank you for many reasons!
I hit the link and read the paper: Collective Behaviour without Collective Order in Wild Swarms of Midges [1]
Some time later
Out on Alkborough Flats
In July
At dusk
Helmut and I found one of the mosquito traps
Well hidden in the dank, yet humid, undergrowth
Well surrounded by flying mosquitos
Venturing in I witnessed what I now know to be male mosquitos
Flying in a swarm
Out to attract females
With this little knowledge,
gained from conversations with the team entomologists
and from reading the paper
I felt partly safe
Male mosquitos don’t bite
(though the females will likely be somewhere nearby)
Informed by me read of ‘Collective Behaviour without Collective Order in Wild Swarms of Midges’ (2014)
I watched the swarm
Intently
Paying attention to the individual’s movements
and
The swarm as a whole
Looking intently
I observed
More than a twilight swarm in a disordered phase
I saw a male mosquito gathering
Collective behavior became visible
As if in a choreographed dance
.
.
.
The small swarm
To start
Disorderly
Then
As two came into close proximity of one another
Millimeters apart
Their movements synchronized and mirrored
Two darted sideways in unison
Three spiraled upwards at an angle in unison
then together semi circled downwards
Two more spiraled upwards and outwards
then back into the swarm
When all came together
In close proximity
The whole swarm
Spiraled down
As one collective mass
As if a murmuration
Beautiful
Awe-inspiring
Experience
Walking into mosquitos
For the first time
Seeing
Male mosquitos Dance
No longer misunderstood as biting beasts
But seen as dancing males
Moving in murmurations
Waiting for females
to charm with their songs
My vision might not yet be clear
My understanding still murky
and not yet fully informed
Yet
What I see has shifted
And in shifting
My views have expanded
[1] Attanasi A, Cavagna A, Del Castello L, Giardina I, Melillo S, et al. (2014) Collective Behaviour without Collective Order in Wild Swarms of Midges. PLoS Comput Biol 10(7): e1003697. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi. 1003697
Kerry Morrison is an artist, a Director of In-Situ, and has completed a Phd in Cultural Ecosystem Services.
On Sunday 28th October (18.15 in Room 7) the WetlandLIFE team will host a side event at the Ramsar Intergovernmental Convention on Wetlands‘ 13th COP in Dubai. The event focuses on ‘Sense of Place & Wellbeing in Wetlands: Using Film & the Arts to achieve SDG3’.
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