They also eat nectar and are pollinators of various plants.
There’s no way we could simply remove a creature as numerous and widespread as mosquitoes without any consequences.
Comment on Horrors We've Unleashed
Wild_Mastic@lemmy.world 5 weeks agoIf those creatures that also eat mosquitoes cannot eat them anymore, that means they would have to eat other bugs, possibly fucking up all the ecosystem.
That said, fuck mosquitoes, they can take blood from other places
OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Dabundis@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
If we were to somehow magically remove mosquitos from existence in an instant, we’d better hope something fills their ecological niche quickly
shalafi@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Nothing eats them exclusively, that I know of. And they’re tiny. Any insectivore is getting far more nutrition out of about anything else.
Maybe I’m wrong, but biologists seem to think eradication is a non-issue.
smeg@feddit.uk 5 weeks ago
I think the purpose of the original genetic modification is to make them unable to bite humans (and spread malaria) but to otherwise leave them capable of feeding, thus not wiping them out and upsetting the ecosystem they’re part of
MelastSB@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
That niche being flying bloodsucker? I’m not sure the alternative will be any better
mihor@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
Found the mosquito.
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
All of our best data on the impact says that it really wouldn’t matter. Sometimes a species is a linchpin for the ecosystem, and sometimes it isn’t.
Sucks for mosquitoes, but there’s a very real chance that we’ll smallpox them, and the biggest concern will be our confidence that the virus we use doesn’t impact other species unintentionally.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Hopefully we can do the same for bedbugs. Fuck bedbugs. I can smell the little fuckers