Why do we not simply eradicate mosquitos? What would be the negative consequences?
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Here in Houston last year (and I think this year) the city released some mosquitos that prevented them from reproducing. During this time period the scientists addressed concerns that it would upset the ecosystem balance in the swamp. Ultimately they said it would be fine because mosquitos are not the primary food source for any of the animals in the area. Hopefully someone can find the article(s) talking about that.
So to answer your question…we’re working on it.
We don’t know for sure. Which is the problem.
We have a good idea of some of the consequences and we might choose to accept those consequences, but there will also be surprise effects that we don’t expect and we don’t know what those surprise effects will be. If we were going to eliminate an animal that’s already on the verge of extinction, we could make pretty solid guesses on the consequences because it’s already approaching that point. But mosquitoes are just about everywhere and play a big role in keeping the ecosystem the way it is now. There would still be an ecosystem without them but we can’t fully predict what it would look like.
My favorite example to talk about with this sort of stuff is the Chinese campaign under Mao, to eliminate pests which posed a risk to the country, one of these pests they were more successful in eliminating were sparrows. Sparrows ate the grain from their harvest, so they wanted to get rid of them, and they depleted their population to almost 0.
Now the issues with this, is that sparrows eat more then grain, they also eat… bugs! specifically locusts, and without the sparrows to keep them in check, the locusts in turn grew in population and destroyed the harvest themselves.
The moral of the story is to always be very careful when you are attempting to engineer the ecological balance. You’re almost always forgetting something, or simply not aware.
I have a foggy memory that this was attempted somewhere. Florida possibly. I cant find any references now but there was a massive programme of trying to exterminate all mosquitoes, doing things like driving trucks spraying huge clouds of insecticide through the streets.
From what I recall they gave up because the DEET they were using was seriously damaging the whole ecosystem and the mosquitoes were still thriving.
I know that isnt very helpful but hopefully enough there to trigger someones memory or i have got it wrong enough that someone will be complelled to correct me with some useful information
Aside from being food for birds, bats, frogs etc., they also are pollinators. Not all mosquito species (which there are many of) bite. And from the ones that bite, only the females do so. Which means that floral nectar is a fundamental food source for them and in the process of searching for it, they pollinate many flowers.
The ecosystem is delicately balanced and any time humans decide to play God and mess with it, things start getting effed up.
If you’re going to eradicate mosquitoes, many different fish species will starve to death as they feed off of mosquito larvae in water. This in turn affects the bigger fish going up the food chain.
Not to mention birds that also eat said fish, that are now without food.
They’re a vital part of the food chain, especially their eggs and young.
We’d be better off genetically engineering a sub species of mosquito that doesnt need blood to reproduce.
Then there’s no downside to them, without biting they wont spread diseases. And the food chain doesnt get fucked.
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