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Is this a plan to eliminate mosquitoes? Are there concerns about eliminating an entire tier of the food chain? Surely this would be bad for the things that eat
by alexc05 8y ago
Is this a plan to eliminate mosquitoes? Are there concerns about eliminating an entire tier of the food chain?
Surely this would be bad for the things that eat mosquitoes. And the things that eat those things etc.
- doombolt 8y agoAs a person living in mosquito-prone area, I would say that those concerns are secondary to the quality of life implications even before diseases are taken into account. Those mosquitoes had it coming for a long, long time. But I have only now thought out of a different reason. Basically we had the choice of either living with malaria mosquitoes or converting all of wetland into dry land, completely destroying ecosystem that was there. But now we have option of just eliminating mosquitoes while leaving the rest of wetland intact. To me it does sound like a plan.
- ForHackernews 8y agoSupposedly ecologists who have researched this believe that there are other substitute insects (gnats, flies, etc) that will provide enough food that removing mosquitoes would not be catastrophic. I'm a little dubious myself, but I do hate mosquito bites, and I don't even live in a malaria zone.
- macintux 8y agoThere are an estimated 100 billion brine flies in the Great Salt Lake ecosystem. I’m confident there will be insects to fill the void. (I don’t mean to sound blasé, especially given the environmental pressures facing so many insects, but I won’t shed a tear for mosquitos.)
- awestroke 8y agoIt's only malaria-transmitting mosquitoes, lots of other types of mosquito will fill the void very quickly.