4 ms·

Mosquito larvae are very important in aquatic ecology (1). While they are annoying as F they are important to our overall ecosystem. Bees sting and kill people

Mosquito larvae are very important in aquatic ecology (1). While they are annoying as F they are important to our overall ecosystem. Bees sting and kill people each year but no one would ever attempt to sterilize all of the bees. They are different, yes, but each play an important part on our planet. (1) https://www.google.com/amp/s/io9.gizmodo.com/what-if-every-mosquito-on-earth-went-extinct-tomorrow-1646840383/amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/io9.gizmodo.com/what-if-every-m...

RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
>Bees sting and kill people each year but no one would ever attempt to sterilize all of the bees. I don’t think bee stings kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. The death toll from malaria alone is over 400,000 people every year mostly children. I think that the benefits from wiping out disease causing mosquitoes are worth the risk. You would immediately save hundreds of thousands of lives every year as well as keep millions of people from being sick and disabled.
- fythug 7y ago
  Not worth it if the risks include death of all species which depend from mosquitos as food. Then those people will eventually die from hunger.
pnako 7y ago
You can disrupt ecosystems without ending the world ("life finds a way"). The logic in your linked article is a bit specious; certain species eat mosquito larvae, so without mosquitoes they won't have food, and the species eating them won't have food, and so on. But nothing is actually static, there would be some dynamic adjustment (arguably, hard to predict). Species will find something else to snack on. In fact you could argue that those species eating mosquito larvae are detrimental to mosquitoes! Maybe they're preventing something else from happening by eating them before they develop.
- ryall 7y ago
  Yeah I'm sure it's totally fine disrupting an entire ecosystem http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170516-when-wolves-return-to-the-wild-everything-changes http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170516-when-wolves-return-t... https://www.gorgeouscreatures.com.au/blogs/news/the-history-of-possums-in-new-zealand https://www.gorgeouscreatures.com.au/blogs/news/the-history-... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorse_in_New_Zealand https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorse_in_New_Zealand
  - jb775 7y ago
    Also take a look at Cane toads in Australia
  - vosper 7y ago
    I'm a Kiwi, and whether gorse is a problem is a matter of perspective. It's not causing any harm to almost anyone at all. It's not what's native, so people don't like it - that's fine, but it's mostly aesthetics at the end of the day. I love our native plants and birds, but I also think gorse is really pretty when it's all in flower. But that's not the point: gorse in NZ is not even slightly comparable to mosquito-borne illnesses. No-one ever died because of gorse in New Zealand. According to Unicef malaria kills 1,000,000 people every year. This is something we might want to disrupt.
    - antod 7y ago
      In NZ, gorse is actually a fairly good nursery for native trees/bush that will eventually shade it out and take over from it. The main problem gorse caused was taking over grassy farmland. Pine trees are another matter though, they make it very difficult for native plants.
  - exclusiv 7y ago
    "Eradicating any organism would have serious consequences for ecosystems — wouldn't it? Not when it comes to mosquitoes, finds Janet Fang." Some ecosystems would be altered for sure but it doesn't appear to be widely believed that there would be serious disruption. "There are 3,500 named species of mosquito, of which only a couple of hundred bite or bother humans." We know we don't need them and we don't believe that the earth needs them, but we could start with eradicating the couple hundred species that pester us. https://www.nature.com/articles/466432a https://www.nature.com/articles/466432a

RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago

>Bees sting and kill people each year but no one would ever attempt to sterilize all of the bees. I don’t think bee stings kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. The death toll from malaria alone is over 400,000 people every year mostly children. I think that the benefits from wiping out disease causing mosquitoes are worth the risk. You would immediately save hundreds of thousands of lives every year as well as keep millions of people from being sick and disabled.

fythug 7y ago
Not worth it if the risks include death of all species which depend from mosquitos as food. Then those people will eventually die from hunger.

pnako 7y ago

You can disrupt ecosystems without ending the world ("life finds a way"). The logic in your linked article is a bit specious; certain species eat mosquito larvae, so without mosquitoes they won't have food, and the species eating them won't have food, and so on. But nothing is actually static, there would be some dynamic adjustment (arguably, hard to predict). Species will find something else to snack on. In fact you could argue that those species eating mosquito larvae are detrimental to mosquitoes! Maybe they're preventing something else from happening by eating them before they develop.

ryall 7y ago
Yeah I'm sure it's totally fine disrupting an entire ecosystem http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170516-when-wolves-return-to-the-wild-everything-changes http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170516-when-wolves-return-t... https://www.gorgeouscreatures.com.au/blogs/news/the-history-of-possums-in-new-zealand https://www.gorgeouscreatures.com.au/blogs/news/the-history-... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorse_in_New_Zealand https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorse_in_New_Zealand
- jb775 7y ago
  Also take a look at Cane toads in Australia
- vosper 7y ago
  I'm a Kiwi, and whether gorse is a problem is a matter of perspective. It's not causing any harm to almost anyone at all. It's not what's native, so people don't like it - that's fine, but it's mostly aesthetics at the end of the day. I love our native plants and birds, but I also think gorse is really pretty when it's all in flower. But that's not the point: gorse in NZ is not even slightly comparable to mosquito-borne illnesses. No-one ever died because of gorse in New Zealand. According to Unicef malaria kills 1,000,000 people every year. This is something we might want to disrupt.
  - antod 7y ago
    In NZ, gorse is actually a fairly good nursery for native trees/bush that will eventually shade it out and take over from it. The main problem gorse caused was taking over grassy farmland. Pine trees are another matter though, they make it very difficult for native plants.
- exclusiv 7y ago
  "Eradicating any organism would have serious consequences for ecosystems — wouldn't it? Not when it comes to mosquitoes, finds Janet Fang." Some ecosystems would be altered for sure but it doesn't appear to be widely believed that there would be serious disruption. "There are 3,500 named species of mosquito, of which only a couple of hundred bite or bother humans." We know we don't need them and we don't believe that the earth needs them, but we could start with eradicating the couple hundred species that pester us. https://www.nature.com/articles/466432a https://www.nature.com/articles/466432a