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Why Mosquitoes Should Not be Eliminated

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday July 11 2017, @09:03PM   
from the something-about-this-bugs-me dept.

AnonTechie writes:

A Purdue researcher and a team of scientists working on a new insecticide argue that mosquitoes should not simply be made extinct due to their role in various ecosystems. Catherine Hill, a professor of entomology, and her team are developing an insecticide that will suppress mosquitoes' ability to transmit diseases without killing the insect or interfering with other life forms. The team is based in Discovery Park, a research park dedicated to using interdisciplinary teams to solve global problems. Hill's research was one of the winners of Discovery Park's Big Idea Challenge, a program that provides resources to interdisciplinary teams with innovative research.

"For the last 20 years I've been trying to figure out how to kill mosquitoes, and then I had this epiphany where, morally, I'm just not OK with it anymore," she said.

There has been a lack of research in preserving mosquitoes because researchers have looked mostly at ways to eradicate them. Therefore, Hill thinks it is essential to consider all the possible effects of wiping out an organism that has existed for thousands of years. She points out that mosquitoes have co-evolved with many species, so there are likely other organisms that depend on them as a food source.

https://phys.org/news/2017-07-mosquitoes.html

[Source]: Why mosquitoes should not be eliminated

I was reminded of:

Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room. - Christine Todd Whitman

Should there be a "Save the Mosquito" movement?

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Original Submission

• Re:Wipe them all out ... (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:46AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 12 2017, @07:46AM (#537992)

  Might be less to do with mosquitoes and more to do with cats.
  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/29/cats-wild-birds-mammals-study/1873871/ [usatoday.com]

  Cats kill all sorts of small birds whereas only a few species of birds are that dependent on mosquitoes (swifts and swallows?). Many others eat stuff like worms, fruit, seeds, nectar.

  See also: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html [nature.com]

  Cathy Curby, a wildlife biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Fairbanks, Alaska, says that Arctic mosquitoes don't show up in bird stomach samples in high numbers, and that midges are a more important source of food. "We (as humans) may overestimate the number of mosquitoes in the Arctic because they are selectively attracted to us," she says.

  Most mosquito-eating birds would probably switch to other insects that, post-mosquitoes, might emerge in large numbers to take their place. Other insectivores might not miss them at all: bats feed mostly on moths, and less than 2% of their gut content is mosquitoes.

  Parent

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