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You don't even need to kill all mosquitos, just the ones that bite humans and carry disease. South America actually did manage to nearly eradicate Aedes aegypti

You don't even need to kill all mosquitos, just the ones that bite humans and carry disease. South America actually did manage to nearly eradicate Aedes aegypti, though the success was short lived. Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived.

marblar 10y ago
> Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. Could it not have crowded out some other niche that will be left empty if they were removed?
jamescostian 10y ago
> Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. This logic may have been applicable way back when the first few Aedes aegypti made their way to the New World, but at this point, so much has changed in our New World, and we don't really know all the ecological changes that Aedes aegypti may have already caused. Perhaps, they have become an integral part of our society.
- roywiggins 10y ago
  I'm aware of that possibility, but their main niche seems to be sucking human blood and passing diseases around. Other mosquitos feed on other animals and plants, but A. aegypti really loves to eat people.
- duaneb 10y ago
  > Perhaps, they have become an integral part of our society. Perhaps, but I don't believe anyone has demonstrated that mosquitoes have this crucial in impact to he health of the ecosystem. In fact, the aforementioned Nature article explicitly argues against that idea, though obviously it's only a sample size of 1.
- kapitza 10y ago
  Some of them, I assume, are good mosquitoes. But who's doing the biting? Somebody's doing the biting! We need to build a net. They have to go back!
flatulent1 10y ago
> So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. I wonder what kind of South American bug pollinates Cherimoya blooms? The Cherimoya fruit is exceptional, but producing it in California requires hand pollination since some bug that lives in the Andes isn't in California. Hopefully whatever man dumps into the environment won't create some new nasty... flesh-eating locusts perhaps?

marblar 10y ago

jamescostian 10y ago

> Aedes aegypti is not even native to South America- it's African. So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. This logic may have been applicable way back when the first few Aedes aegypti made their way to the New World, but at this point, so much has changed in our New World, and we don't really know all the ecological changes that Aedes aegypti may have already caused. Perhaps, they have become an integral part of our society.

roywiggins 10y ago
I'm aware of that possibility, but their main niche seems to be sucking human blood and passing diseases around. Other mosquitos feed on other animals and plants, but A. aegypti really loves to eat people.
duaneb 10y ago
> Perhaps, they have become an integral part of our society. Perhaps, but I don't believe anyone has demonstrated that mosquitoes have this crucial in impact to he health of the ecosystem. In fact, the aforementioned Nature article explicitly argues against that idea, though obviously it's only a sample size of 1.
kapitza 10y ago
Some of them, I assume, are good mosquitoes. But who's doing the biting? Somebody's doing the biting! We need to build a net. They have to go back!

flatulent1 10y ago

> So eliminating it from the New World can't do that much damage given that the ecosystem got along fine before it arrived. I wonder what kind of South American bug pollinates Cherimoya blooms? The Cherimoya fruit is exceptional, but producing it in California requires hand pollination since some bug that lives in the Andes isn't in California. Hopefully whatever man dumps into the environment won't create some new nasty... flesh-eating locusts perhaps?