Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (July 23/01) - Before clawing at bug-bitten skin and cursing the tenacious culprits, take a deep breath.

Mosquitoes are a vital link in the Northern food chain, says Arviat biologist Mitch Campbell.

There are many species of the offending critter, but they all look more or less like this one.

Birds feed off the infamous summer blood-suckers. Mosquitoes also, via cross-pollination, nurture tundra plants and vegetation -- food that caribou and muskoxen need to survive.

"Here we've got a relatively short growing season and the sheer number of mosquitoes provide a very large food source," Campbell says.

At the same time fleshy arms and foreheads make for good landing pads, the summer bugs fall prey to hungry dragon flies, wasps, hornets and crane flies.

Quick facts: Only female mosquitoes bite. They do so with a slender beak, which is a modified appendage called a proboscis that pierces skin. A female may suck up to three times her own body weight in blood. The blood is required nutrition for the development of her eggs. (Canadian Encyclopedia, 1988) Before dropping dead, female mosquitoes lay eggs in freshwater lakes, ponds and wetlands. In the Arctic and High Arctic, 10 months pass before the eggs hatch into larvae. It takes another one to four weeks before the critters are up, flying and looking for blood. They don't like wind or cold weather. (Arctic Insect News, 1991)

"They may be annoying critters, but they're critical to birds and large mammals. We need them," Campbell says.

A mosquito's three-week lifespan plays like a Trooper song: they're here for a good time, not a long time.

Tell that to thousands of Nunavummiut flocking to stores for bug sprays, coils and anti-itch creams this month.

In land-locked Baker Lake, an abundance of fresh water and lack of breeze makes July, at times, intolerable.

"Out on the land you can barely see in front of you, especially if you have a caribou. Little kids look like they have chicken pox," says Paul Kabloona, a hunter and graphic artist.

In coastal Grise Fiord, where the weather is notably colder and windier, the bugs are scarce.

"It's been raining and snowing, we've hardly seen the sun," says Lydia Noah at the Iviq Hunters and Trappers Association. "There's hardly been any. I've seen lots of small little bugs but that's something different."

In Iqaluit, the shores of the Sylvia Grinnell River are buzzing with the sound of mosquitoes -- unlike the nearby barren island of Kikturiaaqangittuit (English translation: There are no mosquitoes here).

Sure, mosquitoes are bad now, but within a month they'll be gone -- their larvae deposited into fresh water ponds awaiting spring thaw.

So buck up. Slather on the anti-bug sprays and when bitten, know you're supporting the food chain.

"They don't live very long, but they need a very high-quality protein source and that source is blood," says Campbell.

Why do they seem to like me?

Ever wonder why mosquitoes make meals out of some people while turning a blind proboscis to others?

Like any predatory animal, the tiny bugs have discriminating tastes. What those tastes are remains somewhat of a mystery.

Research suggests people with low levels of acids in their skin have an increased chance of becoming a human pin cushion. And obviously, bites are more visible on fair-skinned people.

Rick Armstrong at the Nunavut Research Institute in Iqaluit says there are no mosquito research projects in Nunavut this summer -- nor have there been in years.

"Right now a lot of money is going into studying climate change," Armstrong says.

In less scientific terms, a person's choice of clothing, scent and diet may effect when the tiny critters strike. The following are mere suggestions from various Internet sites.

DO:

1. wear light-coloured clothing (especially white, orange and yellow). Bright colours turn them off.
2. stand near a fire or in the vicinity of something ablaze. Their tiny little lungs don't process smoke well.
3. wear nylon jackets and avoid fleece-like fabric and jeans. The latter are like one big, comfy cotton pad.
4. slather yourself in commercial bug juice with DEET or citronella. When all else fails, try cider vinegar.
5. If bitten, mix a little baking soda and water and apply to bites.

DON'T:

1. wear perfumes. Mosquitoes are attracted to sweet-smelling odours.
2. eat bananas. The smell turns them on.
3. scratch. Easy to say, harder to do.

Why are mosquito bites itchy?

- At the same time a mosquito takes blood, it deposits a small dose of saliva. The saliva, among other things, is an irritant producing pink spots fondly referred to as mosquito bites.

- If the annoying insects successfully avoid hands, sprays cans and swatters for three weeks, they've lived a full life.