Moisture and heat are a explosive cocktail to activate the life cycles of insects such as flies. And a summer that does not leave the Galician climate despite the seasonal progress of the calendar, the fuse of its survival. “Climate change makes the breeding cycle of flies longer. They can deposit between one hundred and three hundred eggs per clutch which, in the best climate conditions like those experienced, hatch in seven or ten days,” explained Jacinto Díez, an expert on the plague of these insects, from the pest control company Rentokil. Initially. experienced by the Council of Tomiño and the influx of Salceda de Caselas .
According to the expert, The need for fumigation of insects – flies and mosquitoes in Galicia – increased by 30% in recent months compared to previous years. The same opinion was expressed by the Sergal fumigation company, which directly refers “to climate change.” In both cases they show that conventional spraying does little (or nothing) to prevent it.
Summer lasts until autumn in Galicia and it is expected that every year, the heat flies and mosquitoes will multiply. “The whole of Galicia is the same,” they warned. As an example, they cite the Argentine ants – an invasive species – which also cause problems in cities such as Vigo, “since its arrival, it affects the whole area, not only a private citizen,” they indicated.
A technician from another company (Atlántico disinfection) that has already intervened after calls from residents of Baixo Miño, explains that in the case of flies, the problem of coexistence is combined with another public health potential, because They carry bacteria and fly over food. And, another species whose cycle has changed due to climate change and has been analyzed is the pine processionary; caterpillars that usually come down from their capsules in the treetops at the end of March or April but have seen, with warmth, an early arrival in recent years: “They can now be seen coming down from tree in Galicia in February,” he explained. Ten.
The professional experience of the pest control companies consulted is consistent with the professor of Zoology and Galician entomology expert Marcos A. Gonzálezexplaining: “Although what bothers us are the mature specimens, the first thing we do is find the elimination of a pest in what substrate, where, the worms”. For González, fertilizers used as fertilizers are – in many cases – the source of the worm epidemic. In other words, where the flies find a suitable place to lay their eggs. In other cases, bodies of water are close to grass.
While the study is not over, the The University of Vigo is preparing for the Council of Tomiño, after collecting specimens of flies, the assumptions are varied: from fields, to fertilizers for avocado farms, to landfills. The use of absolute control of weak points where flies thrive is, for experts, the best preventive measure. But the possibility of action against worms and egg deposits is sometimes reduced by the possible impact of the soil or springs.
How to fight a pest?
And, once a pest develops, how to fight it? From Rentokil Initial, Jacinto Díez assures that the only – or the few – effective measures known today against flies are three: the installation of mosquito nets on doors and windows, to prevent their entry into homes; the use of fumigation with biocides on facades and access doors to prevent them from being installed there and, finally, outside, lthe traps of the funnel. “It is a type of trap that uses a protein material mixed with water and to which the flies are very attracted,” he added. In these installations, which are hung from tree trunks or ceilings, the flies sink because they cannot get out – they are similar to domestic designs popularized against velutine wasps. “If you attack the mature population, you reduce the number of reproductive specimens,” they explained.
