patrick.net

Kill the skeeters! Kill them all!

However, the concept of wiping out an entire mosquito species also raises ecological questions, as it runs counter to preserving biodiversity.

is this biodiversity that we really need?

rando says

is this biodiversity that we really need?

Although there are always possible unintended consequences, I think we can be reasonably sure whether or not mosquitoes fill an important niche in the ecosystem. I'm incline to believe that we can wipe all the buggers out without disrupting the ecosystem. I'm all for wise, active management of the environment. It's uncontrolled and reckless changes that are dangerous.

This makes me think of my oldest son.

A mosquito landed on my arm and I killed it saying thats one insect we could do without to my 9yo. His reply "They are part of nature and spread disease to control populations". He also told me when he was 5 and I was killing ants after I told them they were looking for food "Everything needs to eat leave them alone" and last week I saw a ant and he told me "they only live for a little bit let it enjoy life".

We lose a new species every day due to one factor or another. I think we can do without the one that causes more deaths and disease than any other in the animal Family.

Misquito larve probably feed a ton of wetland species that is in our food supply.

Skeeters are bloodthirsty females. I am just glad they only carry disease and haven't discovered divorce lawyers.

Then there is the theory that the GMO mosquitos actually are the cause of the microencephaly and/or zika virus outbreak. I would not call it a "conspiracy theory", because that would imply that malicious intent and collusion was involved. It might be called a theory of unintended consequences.

In any case, not many years ago I think we were all assured that GMO animals (as opposed to GMO plants) would stay locked up in labs. Now we have large scale intentional introduction of GMO insects into to the world. I think there is plenty of cause for concern. Especially since it has been revealed that SOME viable offspring exist, no matter the claim that GMO+non-GMO=nonviable offspring. Nature tends to have a way of ensuring that some offspring will survive and breed, if nothing else due to random mutations, and I do not think ANYONE can predict what may ensue in terms of unintended consequences.

Various opinions follow:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-29/zika-outbreak-epicenter-same-area-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-released-2015
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/23/a-shocking-one-third-of-americans-believe-this-zika-conspiracy-theory/
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/gmos-didnt-cause-zika-outbreak/

Is Rosie a GMO human?

Folks will be getting bitten, i.e. injected, by genetically modified mosquitoes. It's a little different than eating genetically modified fish.

rpanic01 says

I saw a ant and he told me "they only live for a little bit let it enjoy life".

Do ants enjoy life?

There's a lot more evidence that the microencephaly was caused by spraying with a certain sort of insecticide that interferes with mosquito larva development. Not such a stretch that it also interfered with human fetus development.

Microencephalic zombies! Doh!

Dan8267 says

rando says

is this biodiversity that we really need?

Although there are always possible unintended consequences, I think we can be reasonably sure whether or not mosquitoes fill an important niche in the ecosystem.

This issue has been debated, and apparently mosquitoes do have ecological functions. They bring nutrients to inland ponds and lakes, for example, thus feeding fish. I would prefer not to have them, but there may be ways of keeping them away from humans. For example, in Africa, certain spiders prefer to eat the particular type of mosquitos that spread malaria, so promoting those spiders seems to be an effective way of reducing malaria.

curious2 says

This issue has been debated, and apparently mosquitoes do have ecological functions.

The article mentions, for instance, that every animal in an arctic caribou herd loses 300 mL of blood a day to the depredations of mosquito swarms, which is definitely horrific for the caribou—but that’s biomass that’s getting transferred to birds and bats and fish.

Couldn't we transfer as much biomass by taking a couple of dumps and using the fertilizer for flowering plants and algae?

Dan8267 says

Couldn't we transfer as much biomass by....

other means, yes, probably we could. Also other ecological functions of mosquitoes could probably be replaced. They have likely served an evolutionary function too though, as 10% of human DNA consists of retroviruses that infected our ancestors; I don't know exactly what role mosquitoes may have played in that, but probably some. Anyway, I'd be happy to be rid of mosquitoes, but beware of unintended consequences; better insect repellants might be a safer choice.

curious2 says

Anyway, I'd be happy to be rid of mosquitoes, but beware of unintended consequences; better insect repellants might be a safer choice.

There are, of course, always risk in any management of a complex system. That said, eradicating malaria and the Zika virus would be a significant enough benefit to warrant those risks in my opinion. As for human disease resistance, I fall into the camp that believes human evolution from this point forward will be mostly directed by genetic engineering rather than by random mutation and natural selection. NPR had an interesting talk last week on this subject. You can listen to it at http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/11/09/gene-editing

Dan8267 says

eradicating malaria and the Zika virus would be a significant enough benefit to warrant those risks in my opinion.

Fair enough. You are probably right, and I'd be willing to try, depending on what that entails. I commented mainly to point out they do have functions, and removing them would create risks especially since there is no known way of doing it, so the question would become how, and the answers would create risks of their own. Mosquitos' continued presence poses risks also, so the balance may well favor removing them, depending on how.

Or you could just get a bottle of Skin So Soft and the mosquitos won't come anywhere near you. Avon makes it.