Considering frogs and toads very much like mosquitos and mosquito larvae as a food source, what most likely happened in Kathy Durrum's situtaion is that by introducing mosquito dunks and killing the larvae they removed the food source for the frogs which caused a large number of them to starve to death. Removing the dunks allowed the mosquito population to proliferate which then also allowed the predators of mosquitos, frogs and toads, to also proliferate. Any time you remove or reduce the amount of an animal from an environment that is a small ecosystem you're doing damage to that entire system, not just the one specific animal in it.

I don't have alot of experience with this, but... The mosquitos in my wet swampy back yard are not particularly bad. I had a co-worker come over one day and I commented on the lack of mosquitos to him. He indicated that it was due to the large number of Sweet Gums on the property. There might be something to this as the turpines in the leaves are fairly strong. Another co-worker indicated that Weeping Willows, while very pretty, attract mosquitos. I have a few sickly willows, but don't see much difference in the mosquito count around them. As an experiment, I'm going to plant tobacco this spring to look at the insect repellent properties of this plant (works with some bugs, don't know about mosquitos).

I have grown chia novelties in the past. As I recall, there is no standing water involved. Larvae live in standing water. The eggs won’t hatch unless they are in water and the larvae can only exist in water. It has nothing to do with whether or not the eggs can be resistant to dessication. If you have plant saucers around the house with water in them, you may have mosquito incubators in action. We get mosquitos in the house frequently, I am quite certain that they come inside when the humans do. It would not be at all unusual for someone to see a few mosquitoes during their active season. Mosquito Life Cycle

A trick I learned early on to avoid all the yuck on my skin was to garden in a cast off of DH's--long sleeve shirt, cotton pants. I spray THEM heavily with OFF-Deet spray. I wash my garden outfit at the end of the season. This summer I've even taken to walking with the shirt on. It repels the mosquitoes and the chemicals never touch my skin. DISINFORMATION ALERT: "It will also kill bees, butterflies (which of course includes the diminishing population of monarchs), moths, ladybugs, dragonflies, lightning bugs, etc." Our MN town sprays weekly from Memorial Day until mid August. PLENTY of bees, butterflies, dragon flies etc. etc. and don't get me started on the insane asian beetles, around here!! We do not live in town so pay the same company to swing through our "subdivision". This year has been a bust as it has rained each evening they are due to spray. We lived here for a few years before they began spraying. We invested heavily in mosquito netting clothes so we could do yard work, garden etc. The chemicals we purchased just to survive going to get the mail would give anyone cancer. Deet/Ortho mosquitoes spray for the garden/Fog machine. MULTIPLE "mosquito magnet" machines, it cost us more than filling my flower beds with plants did!! The $50 a season for them to weekly spray was not only cheap but 1000x more effective and healthier for us and the environment. It's been well over 10 years now of weekly spraying and I've seen no two headed snakes or toads with extra appendages we OBVIOUSLY have plenty of pollinators to grow crops and insects for bird food and to break down our compostables, AND we get to enjoy being outside!!