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well i guess this is fantastic to avoid the argument against eradicating all mosquitos as a whole since they may be part of a food chain or something. It just

well i guess this is fantastic to avoid the argument against eradicating all mosquitos as a whole since they may be part of a food chain or something. It just prevents the disease from transmitting!

macintux 5y ago
I don’t think anyone’s arguing we should eradicate all mosquitos, just the ones that carry human diseases (which IIRC are in many cases non-native species).
andreareina 5y ago
I haven't seen serious arguments for eradicating all mosquitoes, but just the species that spreads it, which is a small portion of the total mosquito population and doesn't occupy a unique ecological niche. Earnest question: what's the bigger ecological change, infecting all these mosquitoes (can they spread it to other species? We've seen evidence of mosquitoes hybridizing in the wild), or just kill them outright?
- Fomite 5y ago
  We have very few (if any) species-specific pesticides or larvicides. We've been trying the "What if we just kill them outright?" approach to mosquito control (along with 'What if we can hide under nets', 'What if we trick them into biting something else first?', etc.) fairly extensively.
carlmr 5y ago
On the one hand we don't have data still for how eradicating mosquitoes would disturb the ecosystem, there are just too many complex interactions. There are probably plenty of species specializing on preying on mosquitoes out there that we don't know of. However currently humanity is killing off a lot of insects without targeting a specific species, so potentially disturbing mosquito based ecosystems doesn't seem terrible in comparison.
- IntrepidWorm 5y ago
  I agree- as pestilent as mosquitoes are to humans, there's no denying that they represent significant insect biomass, to be consumed by multiple other species - honestly, with everything else happening to the climate, birds and bats are going to have a hard enough time as it is. That's the real beauty of this approach- introducing wolbachia doesn't seem to have any effect on mosquito population, but rather on the population of dengue-carrying mosquitoes. The dengue virus is not nearly as important to local ecology, as far as I am aware. Theres such an extreme litany of viruses, most of which have no measurable impact on human existence, that the reduction or even elimination of one species (if that's the right term- pendants I apologise) should be without negative consequence.

well i guess this is fantastic to avoid the argument against eradicating all mosquitos as a whole since they may be part of a food chain or something. It just prevents the disease from transmitting!

macintux 5y ago

I don’t think anyone’s arguing we should eradicate all mosquitos, just the ones that carry human diseases (which IIRC are in many cases non-native species).

andreareina 5y ago

I haven't seen serious arguments for eradicating all mosquitoes, but just the species that spreads it, which is a small portion of the total mosquito population and doesn't occupy a unique ecological niche. Earnest question: what's the bigger ecological change, infecting all these mosquitoes (can they spread it to other species? We've seen evidence of mosquitoes hybridizing in the wild), or just kill them outright?

Fomite 5y ago
We have very few (if any) species-specific pesticides or larvicides. We've been trying the "What if we just kill them outright?" approach to mosquito control (along with 'What if we can hide under nets', 'What if we trick them into biting something else first?', etc.) fairly extensively.

carlmr 5y ago

On the one hand we don't have data still for how eradicating mosquitoes would disturb the ecosystem, there are just too many complex interactions. There are probably plenty of species specializing on preying on mosquitoes out there that we don't know of. However currently humanity is killing off a lot of insects without targeting a specific species, so potentially disturbing mosquito based ecosystems doesn't seem terrible in comparison.

IntrepidWorm 5y ago
I agree- as pestilent as mosquitoes are to humans, there's no denying that they represent significant insect biomass, to be consumed by multiple other species - honestly, with everything else happening to the climate, birds and bats are going to have a hard enough time as it is. That's the real beauty of this approach- introducing wolbachia doesn't seem to have any effect on mosquito population, but rather on the population of dengue-carrying mosquitoes. The dengue virus is not nearly as important to local ecology, as far as I am aware. Theres such an extreme litany of viruses, most of which have no measurable impact on human existence, that the reduction or even elimination of one species (if that's the right term- pendants I apologise) should be without negative consequence.