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Do we want to eradicate mosquitoes? What happens to the fish, reptiles, and mammals that depend on them as a primary food source? I believe mosquitoes also play

Do we want to eradicate mosquitoes? What happens to the fish, reptiles, and mammals that depend on them as a primary food source? I believe mosquitoes also play a role in some pollination. I get that malaria is bad for humans, but eradicating mosquitoes could be much worse in the long term, right?

lazide 4y ago
So far, no known species is known to be solely dependent on them. Seems like they are able to make up the difference with other bugs. Considering even today somewhere around 700k people a year die from Mosquito born disease, with many more crippled from lifelong malaria infections, and the total number of deaths is though to be somewhere around a billion through history? [https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/vector-borne-diseases https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/vector-born...] Nuke ‘em
wil421 4y ago
The Asian Tiger Mosquito is the common one you see in most of the US and is an invasive species from Southeast Asia. It’s not as common up North and I think the ones up there aren’t the invasive ones.
Arubis 4y ago
> Do we want to eradicate mosquitoes? Yes; fuck them. We (intentionally or no, mostly not) cause the extinction of hundreds to thousands of species every year for much more mundane reasons: deforestation is the big one, climate change another. And that buys us arguably nothing but enriching people that benefit from the process of deforestation and climate change--folks that're economically desperate enough to log illegally, and energy barons. These extinctions are mostly tragic, and the net benefit to human societies is likely negative. Mosquitoes are fucking evil. They kill more humans every year than any other animal. Malaria is only the most well-known disease they spread; see also dengue ("breakbone fever", named for what it feels like), West Nile virus, and more. Those that malaria doesn't kill are frequently left with a low-level chronic infection that makes them less effective as people. Malaria and mosquitoes kill children, disable the working population, and economically cripple entire nations. As best we can tell, things that eat mosquitoes also eat other things. But I'd vote for nuking the mozzies from orbit even if that weren't the case. They're such an unmitigated cause of human suffering and hardship.
WithinReason 4y ago
In the 20th century alone, malaria claimed between 150 million and 300 million lives, accounting for 2 to 5 percent of all deaths (Carter and Mendis, 2002). How do you imagine eradicating a mosquito species could be worse? Meanwhile, between 200 and 2,000 extinctions occur every year.
germinalphrase 4y ago
Only a small subset of mosquito species bite humans/carry malaria.

lazide 4y ago

So far, no known species is known to be solely dependent on them. Seems like they are able to make up the difference with other bugs. Considering even today somewhere around 700k people a year die from Mosquito born disease, with many more crippled from lifelong malaria infections, and the total number of deaths is though to be somewhere around a billion through history? [https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/vector-borne-diseases https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/vector-born...] Nuke ‘em

wil421 4y ago

The Asian Tiger Mosquito is the common one you see in most of the US and is an invasive species from Southeast Asia. It’s not as common up North and I think the ones up there aren’t the invasive ones.

Arubis 4y ago

> Do we want to eradicate mosquitoes? Yes; fuck them. We (intentionally or no, mostly not) cause the extinction of hundreds to thousands of species every year for much more mundane reasons: deforestation is the big one, climate change another. And that buys us arguably nothing but enriching people that benefit from the process of deforestation and climate change--folks that're economically desperate enough to log illegally, and energy barons. These extinctions are mostly tragic, and the net benefit to human societies is likely negative. Mosquitoes are fucking evil. They kill more humans every year than any other animal. Malaria is only the most well-known disease they spread; see also dengue ("breakbone fever", named for what it feels like), West Nile virus, and more. Those that malaria doesn't kill are frequently left with a low-level chronic infection that makes them less effective as people. Malaria and mosquitoes kill children, disable the working population, and economically cripple entire nations. As best we can tell, things that eat mosquitoes also eat other things. But I'd vote for nuking the mozzies from orbit even if that weren't the case. They're such an unmitigated cause of human suffering and hardship.

WithinReason 4y ago

In the 20th century alone, malaria claimed between 150 million and 300 million lives, accounting for 2 to 5 percent of all deaths (Carter and Mendis, 2002). How do you imagine eradicating a mosquito species could be worse? Meanwhile, between 200 and 2,000 extinctions occur every year.

germinalphrase 4y ago

Only a small subset of mosquito species bite humans/carry malaria.