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
There are so many eradication efforts of so many flavors. Everyone I know in AK has a cough because those areas are sprayed with pesticides constantly. More sophisticated efforts like viruses meet up against evolution and haven’t yet been able to sustainably penetrate a population (i.e. everyone we infect dies or doesn’t reproduce, so those that were resistant now take over the next generation). Nevertheless, eradicating any common species is likely to have unintended consequences. Mosquitoes are a major food source for a lot of creators, for example.
Latest Answers