Considering all the damage we do to eco systems and how little concern many governments have for the environment how come we are so concerned about potential consequences of fighting mosquitoes with genetically modified bacteria and similiar strategies?
Only a few species are dangerous to humans and none of them are keystone species in their ecosystems so why not just erradicate them?
In: Biology
Because the people who care about the environment are also the people who care to address mosquito-related problems.
Also,
>[While they can seem pointless and purely irritating to us humans, mosquitoes do play a substantial role in the ecosystem. Mosquitoes form an important source of biomass in the food chain—serving as food for fish as larvae and for birds, bats and frogs as adult flies—and some species are important pollinators.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/mosquitos-exist-elephants-donkeys-used-represent-gop-democrats-180973517/)
Or to put it another way,mosquitoes keep nutrients in circulation. When a mosquito sucks plant juice or mammal blood and then gets eaten by a fish or a frog or a spider,that fish or frog or spider is “eating” that plant or mammal without actually needing to attack or digest the preceding organism.
No mosquitoes means their predators take a hit too.
Circling back to the first point,once you release a bioweapon (like a bacteria),there’s no guarantee you can put a lid on it again. Deploying anything that can spread and mutate on its own is a risk with potential knock on effects for the environment.
Everything in the environment has a part to play,or else it wouldn’t be there. An individual or population might be there in the wrong place at the wrong time and need culling,but to eradicate an entire species from the earth is short sighted.
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