Phil Lounibos

Distinguished Professor Emeritus

Ecology and Behavior
lounibos@ufl.edu

Late in 2017 a Workshop on Mosquito Ecology and Evolution took place on the UF campus in Fort Pierce, Florida in celebration of my retirement from the University. Selected presentations from that Workshop were edited and published as a collection, which was prefaced by an Introduction that included some biographical details about my career in mosquito research:

Juliano SA, Yee DA, Alto BW, & Reiskind MH. 2019. Papers from a workshop on mosquito ecology and evolution inspired by the career of L. Philip Lounibos. Journal of Medical Entomology, 56: 299-302. PDF

Below are some additional autobiographical notes that complement the aforementioned sketch published in 2019 by colleagues and former students.

My long-standing core focus has been insect ecology and behavior, especially as applied to mosquito vectors of human diseases, such as malaria and dengue. Fruitful diversions and collaborations in physiological and community ecology, biological control, and population genetics  enriched these programs.

A boyhood interest in insects was first directed towards mosquitoes at the University of Notre Dame where I participated in undergraduate research directed by George Craig. As a graduate student in the laboratory of Carroll Williams at Harvard, my Ph.D. research on silkworm behavior dovetailed with contemporaneous studies with Bill Bradshaw on pitcher plant mosquito ecology. After Harvard, I leaped to work at the ICIPE Coastal Research Station in Mombasa, Kenya to perform research on treehole mosquito ecology and to lead a team of investigators testing genetic methods for control of the yellow fever mosquito in East African villages.

From Kenya I moved to the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) because of its subtropical location in Vero Beach and opportunities for further field research on mosquitoes. The transfer of this Laboratory to the University of Florida, subsequent appointments of Ph.D staff to faculty status, and opportunities for students gradually transformed FMEL into a more academically oriented institution than it was when I arrived in 1977. Particularly in my final two decades as a faculty there, I became more involved in mentoring postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, lecturing in departmental courses in Gainesville, and developing short courses for FMEL.

Different species of mosquito pests or vectors have been objects of my basic and applied research, dictated by perceived needs and opportunities. Emphases at various times have included the ecology of mosquito immatures associated with aquatic plants; the communities of mosquitoes in treeholes and other phytotelmata; malaria vectors in South America, and invasive dengue vectors. Although most research was Florida-based with applications to within-State mosquito problems, many programs had important international components, in such countries as Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil. Financial support for these programs was generously supplied from State contracts and Federal grants, particularly from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

As emeritus faculty since 2017, I still maintain an office at FMEL and contacts with current faculty and graduate students through mentoring, participation in seminars, and engagement in short courses supported by the Laboratory. Some students and faculty have joined me to present an annual ‘Celebration of Insects’ field day at Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Ft. Pierce to engage local school children through hands-on experiences in entomology and natural history. Although no longer conducting new research, I continue to work with Bob Zimmerman and colleagues in Brazil to analyze and publish results from our malaria vector research project in the northern Amazon region. And I am working with FMEL Extension Medical Entomologist Eva Buckner to publish new and revised articles on mosquitoes for the general public.