Do mosquitoes serve any useful function to the Earth’s eco-system, as a whole? They result in a huge burden of disease, not just among humans, but also among other animals. What would be the likely consequences if they all suddenly disappeared?
pesce.del.giorno said:
Do mosquitoes serve any useful function to the Earth’s eco-system, as a whole? They result in a huge burden of disease, not just among humans, but also among other animals. What would be the likely consequences if they all suddenly disappeared?
Mosquitos are the bottom of the food chain for many animals, their disappearance will have a negative impact on the ecosystem.
Mosquitoes and their larvae are important sources of food for a wide range of animals.
Mossies as larvae will graze on microalgae, so you have carbon and nitrogen uptake from the water column into animal tissues and higher trophic levels. Australian aquatic taddies aren’t (as is commonly belived) the voracious consumers of mossie larvae – they’re more herbivorous and tend to dine upon filamentous green algae, lemna and azolla for example (pers. obs). But fish will hoover them down, as will predatory aquatic insects, and the adults are eaten from time to time by bats, birds, spiders etc… Although we tend to always assume that mosquitoes must be an important food source, few studies have actually examined their significance in a meaningful and quantitative way (because such studies are difficult) – but U Syd is doing that at the moment. Cameron Webb’s group is doing some neat work on on the ecological role of mossies for supporting local microbats .
Mossies are pollinators (most famous is a species of orchid , but they’ll have a go at common garden daisies) – as are the myriad of flies that we tend to dislike and question their existence.
At the end of the day, even if their ercological roles can (and are) filled by other invertebrates, you can’t eliminate mossies without other dire effects on other animals and habitats (draining or intensively fogging wetlands has significant ‘collateral damage’).
Willems, K.J., Webb, C. E. and Russell, R.C. (2005) Tadpoles of four common Australian frogs are not effective predators of the common pest and vector mosquito Culex annulrostris Skuse. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 21: 492-494. http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0064081 http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=11515 http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2440711?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102901491571A friend once asked me “what did God have in mind when he invented mosquityoes?” I had to reply so you could listen to that small black and white bird sing “sweet pretty creature” and for you to marvel at.
Hi i’m Jackie Arnold world series baseball pro 2020.
It took hard work to get to the top of my game but i couldn’t have done it without “SaneApse” Tm.
I was a kid that dreamed of becoming a pro baseballer, then around 13 something went wrong i started becoming withdrawn and suffering delusions that worried my friends and parents. This was the start of a serious medical condition – Schizophrenia or “Bi-Polar” as it is commonly called.
There was an answer – “SaneApse” Tm.
“SaneApse” Tm is a totally safe prescription solution available from your health provider – today.
Thanks to medical research scientists discovered that “Bi-Polar” was caused by a genetic/ biochemical disturbance and transmitted by some mosquitoes, for years the only answer were powerful drugs that caused lethargy and a disrupted quality of lifestyle, all with no real cure.
Today “SaneApse” Tm is the doctor preferred one, two, three step programme administered by your own health provider that should clear bi polar within 4 weeks and get your life back on track.
Step one requires an intial consult with your doctor priming the brain for the second step. Step one primes the brain using a combination of stem cell technology and anti virals this intial consult should last around 2 hours. In the following weeks you should notice some small differences – your thinking will become clearer as the mind starts rebuilding new connections and aquiring a chemical balance – in this period you should not feel worried, this is totally normal.
Another visit to your health provider the further week involves a short second dose of the primer to help you gain lifestyle balance.
Step two is the oral dose (holds pills to the camera) requiring the user to take 2 easy to swallow pills every morning and evening. By the following two weeks you will notice clear differences, you will be able to think clearly and not suffer from the common signs of bi polar.
Step three is a final quick consult with your healthcare practioner.
The “SaneApse” Tm one, two, three programme is still the number one preferred programme for clearing “Bi-Polar”. I recommend “SaneApse” Tm it helped me, it will help you too, take back your confidence, contact your local health provider for further details – and hit a home run!
She has a good head for it
wookiemeister said:
Hi i’m Jackie Arnold world series baseball pro 2020.
WTF……
Gawd I might go back to hibernation mode.
The cloud fish in my pond get active at about the time mozzies come out. They cruise at about 4 cm below the surface then launch themselves at a tasty target, sometime leaving the water. Hit or miss, they immediately dive straight down. They work in shoals so it is like watching rain drops on the water. You rarely see the fish just the disturbance as it flashes up and down again.
pesce.del.giorno said:
Do mosquitoes serve any useful function to the Earth’s eco-system, as a whole? They result in a huge burden of disease, not just among humans, but also among other animals. What would be the likely consequences if they all suddenly disappeared?
Whoa. First of all, there are an enormous number of species of mosquitoes.
“Over 3,500 species of mosquitoes have already been described. They are generally divided into two subfamilies which in turn comprise some 43 genera.”
Of these, only 5 mosquito species carry malaria.
I really hate, loathe and detest those people who are willing to destroy thousands of insect species (and fish and amphibians) in an area by indiscriminately spraying insecticides and bulldozing swamps in order to eliminate just one protozoan or two.
mollwollfumble said:
pesce.del.giorno said:
Do mosquitoes serve any useful function to the Earth’s eco-system, as a whole? They result in a huge burden of disease, not just among humans, but also among other animals. What would be the likely consequences if they all suddenly disappeared?
Whoa. First of all, there are an enormous number of species of mosquitoes.
“Over 3,500 species of mosquitoes have already been described. They are generally divided into two subfamilies which in turn comprise some 43 genera.”
Of these, only 5 mosquito species carry malaria.
I really hate, loathe and detest those people who are willing to destroy thousands of insect species (and fish and amphibians) in an area by indiscriminately spraying insecticides and bulldozing swamps in order to eliminate just one protozoan or two.
Well, put me on your hate, loathe and detest list. There’s more than malaria. Without thinking too much about it, there’s also dengue fever, yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, Chikungunya fever, Ross River fever, Barmah Valley fever, Murray Valley encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis. A medical entomologist could probably come up with dozens more. There are also hundreds of other infections which affect animals other than humans. I personally think that eradication of the mosquito would result in a minor adjustment to the eco-system, which would be beneficial to the greater ecology.
pesce.del.giorno said:
mollwollfumble said:
pesce.del.giorno said:
Do mosquitoes serve any useful function to the Earth’s eco-system, as a whole? They result in a huge burden of disease, not just among humans, but also among other animals. What would be the likely consequences if they all suddenly disappeared?
Whoa. First of all, there are an enormous number of species of mosquitoes.
“Over 3,500 species of mosquitoes have already been described. They are generally divided into two subfamilies which in turn comprise some 43 genera.”
Of these, only 5 mosquito species carry malaria.
I really hate, loathe and detest those people who are willing to destroy thousands of insect species (and fish and amphibians) in an area by indiscriminately spraying insecticides and bulldozing swamps in order to eliminate just one protozoan or two.
Well, put me on your hate, loathe and detest list. There’s more than malaria. Without thinking too much about it, there’s also dengue fever, yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, Chikungunya fever, Ross River fever, Barmah Valley fever, Murray Valley encephalitis, Japanese encephalitis. A medical entomologist could probably come up with dozens more. There are also hundreds of other infections which affect animals other than humans. I personally think that eradication of the mosquito would result in a minor adjustment to the eco-system, which would be beneficial to the greater ecology.
Ecosystems are generally so complex and interwoven that we know very little about them. However, once we start messing with them to the extent you suggest, all sorts of unexpected reaction occur, most of which are not good.
kii said:
wookiemeister said:
Hi i’m Jackie Arnold world series baseball pro 2020.WTF……
Gawd I might go back to hibernation mode.
pesce.del.giorno said:
I personally think that eradication of the mosquito would result in a minor adjustment to the eco-system, which would be beneficial to the greater ecology.
Good-o. You’ve got a week to demonstrate, using examples and real data from the literature, how you calculated this net gain or benefit to the ‘greater ecology’. Marks will be deducted for each trophic level missed, and ten percent will be deducted for each day late for submission.
neomyrtus_ said:
pesce.del.giorno said:I personally think that eradication of the mosquito would result in a minor adjustment to the eco-system, which would be beneficial to the greater ecology.Good-o. You’ve got a week to demonstrate, using examples and real data from the literature, how you calculated this net gain or benefit to the ‘greater ecology’. Marks will be deducted for each trophic level missed, and ten percent will be deducted for each day late for submission.
I’d just take the zero
:)
Any action negatively impacting on frog nutrition and population would have to be a crime?
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Who would we have to tell us what the butterflies are talking about???
Scientists crack what causes schizophrenia: Process that ‘tidies the brain’ in the teenage years goes haywire, landmark study reveals
Experts say the origin of schizophrenia is now no longer a ‘black box’ Believe condition is fuelled by a gene that pares back the teenage brain Findings could lead to early diagnosis, better treatment or even preventionhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3419627/Scientists-crack-causes-schizophrenia-Process-tidies-brain-teenage-years-goes-haywire-landmark-study-reveals.html