i am under the impression that mosquitos, as an invasive species, do not fill an important ecological niche and could go extinct and be replaced by other insects
I think that's true for the Aedes egypti species at least, they're not native in the Americas and are a main disease-spreading species
Invasive where? They can't be invasive in general
They're invasive of the PLANET
I think in Lilo and Stitch the aliens mention in passing that they use Earth as a wildlife preserve for mosquitoes.
Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are invasive in all of North and South America
Many of the most common species of mosquitos in america are invasive
They're invading my personal space
My back patio, the little shits
This has been a common sentiment but it hasn’t been proven in any substantial way to my knowledge. I personally doubt it’s accurate. That’s not to say the entire ecosystem would collapse but there would likely be consequences.
That said, the other commenter is correct that there are many introduced mosquito species that could probably be eradicated from their non-native range without major ecological harm. And the species that are the worst pests in human cities tend to be introduced, so eliminating them might significantly reduce the level of bites and disease transmission for people.
Mosquitos are a nuisance to every mammal, I think if we could talk to animals this is how it would go down
Human: "So anyways we've been mulling over making the mosquito extinct, but it might have some consequences for yo..."
Mammals: "WTF BRO YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT THE ENTIRE TIME! WHY TF ARE YOU STILL HERE GET RID OF THOSE FUCKERS!"
TBF humans historically have been pretty lax in doing anything simply because it was a good thing to do
The small section of mosquitoes that bite humans actually don't serve a critical niche like that, and just spread disease. Why the idea has been floated at sterilizing them.
Ok but I still think the mosquito thing is worth a try. I’m even willing to live alongside wasps but mosquitoes gotta go!
The mosquito thing is known to be false, and people only ever talk about extinguishing half a dozen species of them at most, that are invasive on most parts.
Half a dozen out of 6k+ lmao
I’m willing to pump up other insects to get rid of mosquitoes
Can I be an insect?
..🥺
👉👈
::bonk::
We'll pump you full of larvae
I’m prepping my ovipositors as we speak
Then do what you can to promote dragonflies.
(Don't know how to better link this old comment.)
https://photon.lemmy.world/post/lemmy.world/19193004?thread=0.12060765.12088433
tl;dr: Just read it.
I call BS on at least some of those claims. Citation or GTFO
The mosquito one is absolutely BS, there's 6k+ species of mosquitoes but only like a couple bite humans
The bats and shit will be fine, it's time to eradicate mosquitoes!
What would happen if bedbugs went extinct? Other than mass celebrations, I mean.
I would gladly feed the birds and bats to be rid of mosquitoes.
Only certain mosquitoes for me. There is a very rare a pretty blue one (Sabethes cyaneus) I would be happy to feed occasionally. But aedes aegypti can suck a fat dick and rest in piss.
How about we send all the aegypti to a certain big white house to suck a fatass tinydick? I hear he's into piss.
OK, but all the ticks can go die in a fire
How about they all die in a chicken tummy
How many species of birds and bats eat just mosquitoes though, or a high enough percentage that they would go extinct rather than shift to rely more on their other prey species, even if at a smaller population? And are those particular species of birds and bats worth the consequences of having mosquitoes?
If humans went extinct, the planet gets better?
There would be no one left to value it as such. It would simply continue to exist.
Nothing evolves to have a purpose, something just mutated by chance that happens to serve a beneficial function to the environment and other organisms
Also I'm pretty sure birds, bats and plants can eat other bugs
What's the statistics on bug food for birds and plants ?
Statistics on bug food????? For birds and plants??? Do you want the whole thing dumped here in the comments? Or do you mean "do birds eat insects"? Yes. A lot.
Diets are highly species specific, but mosquitos are generally less than 3% of the diet for most birds and bats. Too small, don't fly around at the correct time of day/night, and pretty agile, so they aren't supper important for most birds and bats.
Also, usually they hatch in the billions all at once and die within a few weeks so there's a very limited amount of time that they even can be preyed on as food. Their strategy (many of them, not all species) is to overwhelm any predators with numbers.
I thought some of the specific mosquitoes that prey on humans can be killed with little side effects. Or is that just my cognitive bias dreaming of a better world
Species do not exist for a purpose. They are important in their ecosystem, that's all.
And even if they don't have a role, that doesn't make their existence any less valuable.
If screworms went extinct there wouldn't be any animals starving... same with a lot of pests. guinea worm for example.
How do you define "wasp" though? All Hymenoptera? All Apocrita? All Apocrita minus Apoidea and/or Formicidae? All Vespoidea (minus Formicidae?)? Only Vespidae?
What about all the parasitic wasps? All fig trees would die and with them whole food webs. And if all the parasitic wasps that hold other organisms in check would die, this would also lead to a total disruption of so many biomes...
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