Illustration of woman in hazmat suitThere are at least 176 different species of mosquitos in the U.S., and at dusk in the warmer months, it may feel like all of them are in your yard. It is the female who bites you, looking for a blood meal so she can reproduce, and her saliva can transmit a host of nasty diseases: the Zika virus, Eastern and Western equine encephalitis, dengue fever, and malaria, to name a few.

Jannelle Couret, URI assistant professor of biological sciences, studies mosquitos and vector-borne diseases. She recommends several steps to protect yourself:

1. Wear long sleeves and pants if the weather allows it. What color? It turns out mosquitos like black. Light colored clothing won’t repel mosquitoes, but dark colors are a draw.

2. Create a decoy by putting a black tote bag in a corner far away from you. That will give you a chance to gauge mosquito numbers.

3. Wear repellent—and forget citronella, it doesn’t work. Try a permethrin spray for clothing, DEET for bare skin. “I understand that people are concerned about chemicals, but it depends on the risk,” Couret says. “If I’m in an area where there are mosquito-borne diseases, like West Nile or Zika, I would much rather take the risk of exposing myself to a chemical to avoid getting a bad disease.” Other products that provide some protection contain picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus. None, including DEET, are expected to have adverse health affects.

4. Avoid dawn and dusk, prime time for mosquito bites. In most places in the U.S., day-biting mosquitos are not transmitters of disease. Two prominent exceptions are Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, found in parts of Texas and Florida and responsible for Zika, along with outbreaks of chikungunya and the re-emergence of dengue and yellow fevers.

5. A mosquito egg needs 7–9 days to develop into adulthood. Disrupt the life cycle by removing standing water from gutters, unused flowerpots and watering cans, and dumping the water in birdbaths once or twice a week.

6. If you must spray your yard, stick to shady areas where mosquitos congregate. You don’t want to kill beneficial pollinators like bees and butterflies, so avoid flowering plants and spray at night, when bees are safely in their hives.