# EVALUATION OF A SIMULIID BIOCONTROL AGENT

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK · 1987 · $52,234

## Abstract

Black flies are among the most medically-important insects in the world,
due principally to their role in the tropics as vectors of the filarial
nematode causing human river blindness (onchocerciasis).  Ever since the
discovery of the pathogenicity of Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis var.
israelensis) to black flies, there has been an interest both in tropical
and temperate climates to use this bacterium in operational black fly
control programs.  Short-term field trials have attempted to identify
nontarget stream insects which might be killed by Bti, but long-term
comprehensive studies of the affect of repeated applications of Bti on
stream insect communities have been lacking.  The currently-funded research
project (AI-15605) years 04-06) was specifically designed to address this
need.  Now in its third year, two years of data have been generated on the
naturally-occurring insect population levels in upstream and downstream
areas of the study steam, Camden Creek.  At the present, Camden Creek is
being repeatedly treated with Bti to eliminate all black flies from its
downstream section (the upstream sampling site is continuing to serve as
the "control").  Data on the abundance of insect populations during the
current treatment year, when compared with the data generated from samples
taken during the preceding two untreated years, will provide a means with
which to assess the environmental impact of Bti on the stream insect
community.

The present proposal requests a two-year extension of this Camden Creek
study.  This would allow one additional year of treatment and sampling,
followed by a year in which the processing and analysis of all benthic
samples would be completed.  With this additional year of sampling, the two
years of pretreatment data already obtained on the population levels of
Camden Creek's benthic insect taxa could be directly compared with data
generated during two treatment years.  The data obtained from this
additional treatment year would be critically important for confirming
trends in insect population levels, and thus would provide increased
confidence in the assessment of the environmental impact of Bti.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3126265
- **Project number:** 5R01AI015605-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
- **Principal Investigator:** DANIEL P MOLLOY
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1987
- **Award amount:** $52,234
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1979-01-01 → 1988-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3126265

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3126265, EVALUATION OF A SIMULIID BIOCONTROL AGENT (5R01AI015605-08). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3126265. Licensed CC0.

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