I saw Deranged on tv yesterday, dubbed in Filipino because of the channel showing it. I don't really watch movies much so I kinda get enamored to the next "good movie" I see. It reminded me of a particular question I've yet to ask:
"Wouldn't it be nice all the mosquitoes in the world just went extinct regardless of ecological consquences?"
Mosquitoes. They suck blood and spread diseases like Dengue and Malaria. They don't have a proper place in the food chain and they don't have any benefits that I know of like waste breakdown and pollination. I believe that their sudden disappearance wouldn't really cause that much of a disturbance due to what they do. I'm not asking "How?", but rather "Is it a good idea?" and "What would happen if not?"
Same question applies to 3scary5me parasites like tapeworms, because they're scary shit that makes me shudder and favor artificial bodies when technology progresses enocuh.
Mosquito Extinction
Started by: GuardianTempest | Replies: 35 | Views: 5,599
Jan 24, 2015 1:35 AM #1298865
Jan 24, 2015 3:34 AM #1298887
I wish they would be extinct. Where I live, they spread a new virus called Chik-v that causes your joints to hurt making you immobile like an elderly person. The worst part of this is that the effects stay with you up to 3 years. All of this is done
by a simple mosquito.
by a simple mosquito.
Jan 24, 2015 3:15 PM #1299130
They DO pollinate.
The normal food of adult mosquitoes is actually nectar from plants. They fly from flower to flower to feed, and along the way, they carry pollen from one blossom to the other. However, in most cases, mosquitoes are just one of many insects that plants use for pollination, so even if mosquitoes were all eradicated by humans, plants would still survive.
With that aside, mosquitoes have a massive ecological role in nature. Especially as main food source for great number freshwater fish and birds. We need to understand that everything in nature works in balance with one another, and an extinction of any species would destabilize the whole ecosystem, which will have unknown effect, most likely negative for us.
If this mosquito that is responsible for so many deaths around the world were to become extinct our already rapidly growing human population would grow even faster than it already is, and this will have massive negative effects on our future generation's quality of life. Please don't mistake me when I say this, because I would not like anyone that I know to contract a fatal disease because they didn't apply enough deet. But the Earth does need to have a control mechanism on the rate of human population growth. It's harsh to admit it, but we do need them.
I know that scientists are working on creating GM mosquitoes that would only be able to produce male offspring, which would annihilate the local population in just a few generations. Which would be perfect, since only the females bite humans and animals. But even if we could create these GM mosquitoes, should we kill an entire species? It seems extremely wrong, not to say that WE are the ones who gave them thrust to grow a population this big and become a real problem.
The normal food of adult mosquitoes is actually nectar from plants. They fly from flower to flower to feed, and along the way, they carry pollen from one blossom to the other. However, in most cases, mosquitoes are just one of many insects that plants use for pollination, so even if mosquitoes were all eradicated by humans, plants would still survive.
With that aside, mosquitoes have a massive ecological role in nature. Especially as main food source for great number freshwater fish and birds. We need to understand that everything in nature works in balance with one another, and an extinction of any species would destabilize the whole ecosystem, which will have unknown effect, most likely negative for us.
If this mosquito that is responsible for so many deaths around the world were to become extinct our already rapidly growing human population would grow even faster than it already is, and this will have massive negative effects on our future generation's quality of life. Please don't mistake me when I say this, because I would not like anyone that I know to contract a fatal disease because they didn't apply enough deet. But the Earth does need to have a control mechanism on the rate of human population growth. It's harsh to admit it, but we do need them.
I know that scientists are working on creating GM mosquitoes that would only be able to produce male offspring, which would annihilate the local population in just a few generations. Which would be perfect, since only the females bite humans and animals. But even if we could create these GM mosquitoes, should we kill an entire species? It seems extremely wrong, not to say that WE are the ones who gave them thrust to grow a population this big and become a real problem.
Jan 24, 2015 9:22 PM #1299246
Quote from Nextris2000I wish they would be extinct. Where I live, they spread a new virus called Chik-v that causes your joints to hurt making you immobile like an elderly person. The worst part of this is that the effects stay with you up to 3 years. All of this is done
by a simple mosquito.
Yeah I think I heard of it , I think a celebrity caught it to . Also that it was in an island in the carribbeans .
Jan 27, 2015 12:09 AM #1299950
Interesting, that show's what I know about ecological balance.Quote from Exxonite
Jan 27, 2015 12:14 AM #1299953
Quote from ExxoniteI know that scientists are working on creating GM mosquitoes that would only be able to produce male offspring, which would annihilate the local population in just a few generations. Which would be perfect, since only the females bite humans and animals. But even if we could create these GM mosquitoes, should we kill an entire species? It seems extremely wrong, not to say that WE are the ones who gave them thrust to grow a population this big and become a real problem.
We're humans, we care about what's convenient for us, not about the livelihood of animals.
I remember reading an article on my sisters computer one time about that if musquitos went exctinct, the ecosystem would be perfectly fine. But that there would probably evolve some other insect whether for the better or worse. Whether this article was right or not, I'll never know.
EDIT: Found it
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html
Jan 27, 2015 1:42 AM #1299976
I don't really see how this is a debate topic, seeing as the answer is scientific in nature and there is only one answer. Anyone who does the research isn't going to come here to side with the extinction of mosquitoes as if they haven't been surviving all these years through some miracle ecological glitch.
Wrong. A simple google search reveals that they, like any bug, are fodder for birds, spiders, and similar-sized animals. Their larvae, flourishing on open still water, is perfect food for tiny aquatic creatures. I would even go on a stretch and say that their deadly bloodsucking annoyances help keep the population of their prey down. If mosquitoes in the savanna didn't exist, lions would overpopulate resulting in the extinction of zebra for example.
EDIT: Okay I can see that there is in fact another camp on the internet saying that it's inconsequential. So this is infact now a Science Debate, my bad.
Quote from GuardianTempestThey don't have a proper place in the food chain.
Wrong. A simple google search reveals that they, like any bug, are fodder for birds, spiders, and similar-sized animals. Their larvae, flourishing on open still water, is perfect food for tiny aquatic creatures. I would even go on a stretch and say that their deadly bloodsucking annoyances help keep the population of their prey down. If mosquitoes in the savanna didn't exist, lions would overpopulate resulting in the extinction of zebra for example.
EDIT: Okay I can see that there is in fact another camp on the internet saying that it's inconsequential. So this is infact now a Science Debate, my bad.
Jan 27, 2015 6:37 AM #1300067
What I've researched through mosquito extinction, its eradication would have no effect to nature. It's even described as a small hiccup before moving on. Nature would adapt without the mosquito's existence, it happens every time. Of course their larvae shows some support for aquatic environments; feeding small fishes and tadpoles, but if they went extinct, they'll just look for an alternative food source. Diseases like Dengue Fever and Malaria would still find their way in infecting the human population, but no longer through mosquitoes as their main carriers. They pollinate, believe it or not, but I feel that bees serve as better pollinators than mosquitoes. Like I said, nature will adapt without them, and life will go on. These are just my thoughts, though.
Jan 27, 2015 1:30 PM #1300181
Fuck mosquitoes, its as simple as that.
Mosquitoes are single-handedly responsible for more human deaths than all other animals combined.
We as a race as inevitably going to end up raping nature anyway, so might as well get the mosquitoes out of the way earlier.
Mosquitoes are single-handedly responsible for more human deaths than all other animals combined.
We as a race as inevitably going to end up raping nature anyway, so might as well get the mosquitoes out of the way earlier.
Jan 27, 2015 6:32 PM #1300296
I just wanted to share this:
Some of you might have trouble understanding what this even means. Even more of you came to your conclusion without having the knowledge necessary to even think of circumstances like these.
It's really not as simple as "kill all the mosquitoes and everything will be fine". Those of you mentioning malaria? There are 3,500+ species of mosquitoes and only 30-40 of them transmit diseases like those. There's tons of stuff to consider here.
Mosquitos are a vital species in the ecosystems they inhabit, at least from a biocentric perspective. The malaria parasite has a number of dead end hosts. If an ecosystem has enough non-human vertebrates, malaria can not become endemic in a region, because the malaria parasite is too likely to end up in a species in which it can not replicate itself.
If an ecosystem has a human population density below 5 people per km and enough non-human vertebrates, the malaria parasite can not establish itself there. This may not be particularly great news for any humans who wish for the human population to grow at the cost of their local ecosystem, but for the non-human species who inhabit these regions where malaria is endemic, it is great news.
Now, more importantly, if we know that human population density is restrained by the malaria parasite, we could expect a similar phenomenon to occur in other species. There are four different Plasmodium species that are known to infect rodents. One of these is Plasmodium Berghei. The mosquito Anopheles Dureni feeds exclusively on rodents, especially Thamnomys surdaster. It transmits Plasmodium Berghei between these rodents.
It's also known that strong interspecific competition occurs between different species of mosquito in the Aedes genus. Thus, if we were to get rid of the species of mosquito that pose a nuisance to humans, we could expect their place to be filled by species that pose a nuisance to non-human vertebrates, affecting their population number.
Indirectly this would end up affecting humans, because rodent species diversity through the dillution effect prevents diseases from gaining a foothold in these animals. When humans disturb a habitat, rodents that harbor hemorrhagic viruses tend to spread rapidly.
In conclusion, the mosquito has the effect of controling the population numbers of a variety of vertebrate species, increasing vertebrate biodiversity as a result. Because mosquitos, especially their larvae, are in competition with one another, other species may end up filling the niche currently occupied by species that prey on humans. This could affect the biodiversity of the species preyed on by these other mosquitos, which would end up affecting humans too.
Some of you might have trouble understanding what this even means. Even more of you came to your conclusion without having the knowledge necessary to even think of circumstances like these.
It's really not as simple as "kill all the mosquitoes and everything will be fine". Those of you mentioning malaria? There are 3,500+ species of mosquitoes and only 30-40 of them transmit diseases like those. There's tons of stuff to consider here.
Jan 27, 2015 6:41 PM #1300304
Quote from ExilementI just wanted to share this:
Some of you might have trouble understanding what this even means. Even more of you came to your conclusion without having the knowledge necessary to even think of circumstances like these.
It's really not as simple as "kill all the mosquitoes and everything will be fine". Those of you mentioning malaria? There are 3,500+ species of mosquitoes and only 30-40 of them transmit diseases like those. There's tons of stuff to consider here.
Agreed, thats why I'm leaving aside the biological implications for now (there seems to be conflicting reports on that, I will leave it to smarter men to unconver how devastating the effects will be).
I'm speaking of purely moral and ethical implications of destroying mosquitoes and whether saving people from mosquito-borne diseases is more important than dealing with biological ramifications. We've done some horrifying things to nature and I think we are inevitably headed for further natural destruction, so we might as well do that against the mosquitoes now instead of later.
Jan 27, 2015 7:05 PM #1300317
The ecological effects might factor into a moral argument, a long enough chain of effects can potentially cause negative effects for humans. But like you said, it's hard to pinpoint how, exactly. I doubt it'll be on the same scale as mosquito-transmitted diseases. I'm just saying the people who are dismissing that whole aspect of the debate with no evidence have no idea what they're talking about. Or worse, the guy who thinks they serve no place in the food chain. Why even try to debate about mosquitoes if you know next to nothing about them?
Jan 27, 2015 7:26 PM #1300328
Yeah most of the arguments made here seem to stem from articles that claimed wiping out mosquitoes would have zero to low effect on the environment. But its impossible to quantify. I think the guy who claimed that they had no place in the food chain amended his view that they DID have a place but that organisms that preyed on mosquitoes would be able to find substitutes to their diet.
We need to get some proper articles in here though. The scientific community hasn't agreed on how catastrophic (or mundane) the effects of wiping them out will be. I'm sure enough research into all these articles on the subject will atleast shed light on what the 'mainstream' view on the subject is and we can use THAT as the yardstick for the debate.
We need to get some proper articles in here though. The scientific community hasn't agreed on how catastrophic (or mundane) the effects of wiping them out will be. I'm sure enough research into all these articles on the subject will atleast shed light on what the 'mainstream' view on the subject is and we can use THAT as the yardstick for the debate.
Jan 28, 2015 7:28 PM #1300766
Half a million people die from malaria every year. I cannot begin to imagine the kind of ecological consequences which would be needed to outweigh that. Perhaps there are alternative methods of dealing with malaria which would be better, but the benefits of exterminating mosquitos (if it can be done efficiently) clearly outweigh the costs.
Jan 28, 2015 7:45 PM #1300775
Quote from ZedHalf a million people die from malaria every year. I cannot begin to imagine the kind of ecological consequences which would be needed to outweigh that. Perhaps there are alternative methods of dealing with malaria which would be better, but the benefits of exterminating mosquitos (if it can be done efficiently) clearly outweigh the costs.
I think that is sort of where the mainstream opinion lies, and I agree with it too mostly. I'm wondering if there are any fringe theories out there predicting some sort of chain reaction in the food chain / eco system if mosquitoes were to be wiped out that would come back and affect us even more adversely. It might most likely be a crackpot theory, but it would be interesting to hear it.