Field performance of sterile male mosquitoes released from an uncrewed aerial vehicle
Jérémy Bouyer, Nicole J. Culbert, Ahmadou Dicko, Maylen Gómez, Jair Fernandes Virgínio, Michelle Cristine Pedrosa, Luiza Garziera, Aline Taiane Macedo Pinto, A. Klaptocz, J. Germann, Thomas Wallner, Gustavo Salvador-Herranz, Rafael Argilés-Herrero, Hanano Yamada, Fabrizio Balestrino, Marc J. B. Vreysen
Abstract
while maintaining their quality, leading to a homogeneous sterile-to-wild male ratio due to their aggregation in the same sites. Our results indicate that the released sterile males were able to compete with the wild males in mating with the wild females; thus, the sterile males were able to induce sterility in the native female population. The use of drones to implement the sterile insect technique will lead to improvements in areal coverage and savings in operational costs due to the requirement of fewer release sites and field staff.