Scientists seem to be in agreement that if mosquitoes were completely eradicated it wouldn’t mean serious ecological consequences. So is it right to go ahead and get rid of the species?
While no one likes mosquitoes and the bites they bring with them, killing off the species could be a great deal more difficult than you might have thought. For one it would be next to impossible to kill off just mosquitoes as the chances are that other non-target species would also be impacted.
If mosquitoes were killed off it would impact lots of other ecosystems around the globe. It is said that they play an important role in the arctic and of course other organisms would lose their food source if they disappeared. One of the ecosystems affected would be freshwater as mosquitoes pollinate many thousands of plants. It has been argued that the plants affected are not important as crops and that perhaps another species could take over and pollinate them. However when it comes to them being a food source, what would happen to the animals that rely on them as a source of food? They could perhaps become extinct too.
Getting rid of mosquitoes would mean the use of lots of pesticide. Bear in mind that there are around 3,500 species of mosquito and out of these there are just a few hundred that actually bite humans and less that will transmit diseases that are dangerous. Destroying all mosquitoes would prove to be costly and there would be a great deal of collateral damage to non-targeted species along the way.
Perhaps a better solution than getting rid of the mosquito population would be to spend that time and money on making better treatments for the few diseases that are spread by the mosquito. But what do you think? Should the entire population of mosquitoes be destroyed?
