Fighting Epidemics with a Buzz: Researchers Call on the Public to Help Record Hungary’s Mosquitoes

Hungary’s citizen science initiatives have gained a new dimension. This time, researchers at the HUN-REN Ecological Research Centre (HUN-REN ERC) are asking the public to help record the sounds of mosquitoes found in Hungary.

Volunteers have already played a major part in collecting data for mosquito research. Since the Mosquito Monitor programme was launched in 2019, members of the public have submitted more than 6,800 observations. These reports have enabled researchers to map the distribution of three invasive mosquito species in Hungary and closely monitor their spread over time.

Hungary is currently home to 53 mosquito species, some of which may transmit pathogens to people or domestic animals. It is therefore particularly important for researchers to build as accurate a picture as possible of which species occur in different parts of the country.

In recent years, the research has expanded in a new direction, with scientists now also collecting recordings of mosquito sounds. The buzz produced by each species may have distinctive acoustic characteristics, potentially making it possible in the future to identify mosquito species based on their sound alone. Developing such a system, however, requires a large number of recordings representing a wide range of species, locations and environmental conditions.

This is one of the reasons the Mosquito Monitor team is developing mosquiTUNER, an international database of mosquito sound recordings. It contains samples from several countries, including collection sites in Europe and Africa. Hungarian researchers are contributing recordings gathered in Hungary to this international resource.

Recordings from Hungary are particularly important because sound-based species-identification systems must also perform reliably under local conditions. A mosquito’s buzz can be influenced by several factors, including its species, sex and body size, as well as environmental conditions. The species, geographical regions and recording conditions represented in the training data can therefore make a substantial difference to the system’s accuracy.

The samples collected in Hungary can contribute both to the growth of the international database and to the development of more effective mosquito-monitoring methods in the country.

Once the researchers have identified the species of a recorded and photographed mosquito, volunteers receive feedback on the specimen they submitted through the MosquiTUNE app.

Taking part in the research is straightforward and requires no specialist equipment or previous expertise. Volunteers simply need to:

1. Register for the programme by completing the application form.
2. Assemble the trap sent to them by post.
3. Download the MosquiTUNE mobile app for Android or iOS.
4. Capture a mosquito.
5. Record its sound and submit the recording through the app.
6. Return the captured specimen in the enclosed prepaid envelope.

The project is not specifically focused on invasive species. Quite the opposite: the researchers need recordings from as wide a variety of mosquitoes as possible, so a sound recording of any mosquito can make a valuable contribution.

The greater the range of locations, environmental conditions and species represented in the recordings, the more accurate and reliable the resulting analyses and identification algorithms can become.

Further information about the project is available on the Mosquito Monitor website.