From the Ground Up

Dr. Victoria Ng of the Public Health Agency of Canada has been monitoring the effects of climate change on mosquitoes - and the diseases they transmit - since 2004. She joined FTGU to talk about some of the changes she's seen over her career, and her work in forecasting the future.For more information on the TIMO-CS citizen science project, visit https://letstalkscience.ca/outreach/uwindsor/local-programs/timo-cs. You can follow along at the study's online dashboard, at https://timo-cs.shinyapps.io/timo-cs-meteo/.Papers discussed:Khan, Salah Uddin, Nicholas H. Ogden, Aamir A. Fazil, et al. 2020. “Current and Projected Distributions of Aedes Aegypti and Ae. Albopictus in Canada and the U.S.” Environmental Health Perspectives 128 (5): 057007. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5899.Ng, V., Ee Rees, Rl Lindsay, et al. 2019. “Could Exotic Mosquito-Borne Diseases Emerge in Canada with Climate Change?” Canada Communicable Disease Report 45 (4): 98–107. https://doi.org/10.14745/ccdr.v45i04a04.Greer, Amy, Victoria Ng, and David Fisman. 2008. “Climate Change and Infectious Diseases in North America: The Road Ahead.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 178 (6): 715–22.https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.081325Pan, Tiffany, Michaela Seal, Hailey Shaw, et al. 2025. “First Record of Culex Pipiens (Diptera: Culicidae) in Alberta: Expanding Distributions and Ecotype Patterns in a Western Canadian Province.” Journal of Medical Entomology 62 (2): 461–64. https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjae150.Hongoh, V., L. Berrang-Ford, M. E. Scott, and L. R. Lindsay. 2012. “Expanding Geographical Distribution of the Mosquito, Culex Pipiens, in Canada under Climate Change.” Applied Geography 33 (April): 53–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.05.015.Ng, Victoria, Aamir Fazil, Philippe Gachon, et al. 2017. “Assessment of the Probability of Autochthonous Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in Canada under Recent and Projected Climate Change.” Environmental Health Perspectives 125 (6): 067001. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP669.