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The aedes aegyptus is an invasive species in the Americas and should be eradicated. There are about 3000 species of mosquitoes in the world, of which three bea
by blisterpeanuts 13y ago
The aedes aegyptus is an invasive species in the Americas and should be eradicated.
There are about 3000 species of mosquitoes in the world, of which three bear deadly disease:
1. Anopheles (malaria, elephantiasis, and encephalitis)
2. Culex (encephalitis, elephantiasis, and West Nile virus)
3. Aedes (yellow fever, dengue, and encephalitis)
Asian Tiger mosquitoes are a subspecies of Aedes.
If we were to wipe out these three voracious breeds, the world would go on: flowers would continue to be pollinated, frogs and birds would continue to feed.
The risk of this type of eradication effort is not that we "upset the balance" but that we somehow create a resistant strain or mutation that is an even bigger problem, such as the Africanized honey bee fiasco. But that risk is relatively minor, since they're releasing sterile mosquitoes to end reproduction, not fertile ones designed to continue breeding.
There are a couple of hundred species that feed on blood; the rest don't. If we rid the world of all the blood sucking mosquito species, likely it would make little difference ecologically, and millions of lives would be saved and the quality of life for humans would increase. It's highly unlikely that we can do it, but we should at least try.
The naysayers have a rather weak case. I say, go for it. Nature is always in balance. Life is dynamic, not static; species come and go all the time, and always have done so.
- marcosdumay 13y agoFirst, I'd like to point that those are gender, not species. Those together add to thousands of species, and you forgot at least about Lutzomyia. That said, I completely agree that we should get rid of them. And think it's more likely than you stated, if we can extinguish so many species, it can't be so much harder to do it on purpose. Currently we are barely trying, with techniques from the earlier XX century.
- blisterpeanuts 13y agoWell, we could extinguish the mosquitoes if we nuked and irradiated the world so thoroughly that we experienced a 10-year nuclear winter that would cause mass extinction. No more animals to feed on, no more breeding zones, hence no more mosquitoes! But that would come with some undesirable side effects such as the eradication of our own species (except for a few living in hardened, self-sufficient underground shelters as in the "Silo" novel). Arguably, there are too many humans, so perhaps it would make sense to reboot the world with a tiny core of eugenically superior men and women, plus seed stocks and animals to repopulate, and of course maintain massive DNA banks for future species re-creation and replenishment as needed. Or, preferably, terraform Mars or Venus and selectively introduce only the flora and fauna that humans like, and hope some jerk doesn't accidentally or deliberately release ticks, mosquitoes, and other pests into this erstwhile perfect new Eden.
- Carioca 13y agoCoincidentally, the Africanized honey bee fiasco started in Brazil.