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GreenStrong t1_ivgngqj wrote

Reply to comment by bossonhigs in English company Oxitec has released a simple, easy to distribute commercial product they say cuts Dengue Fever spreading mosquito populations by 96%. By just adding water, genetically modified mosquito eggs mature into males whose sperm cannot result in viable female larvae. by lughnasadh

>Messing with nature doesn't end well.

From that perspective, you should favor this effort. Ades egypti mosquitoes are an invasive species from Africa, there were zero of them in Brazil, or anywhere in the Americas, before 1492.

To generalize a bit more, the ecosystem absolutely needs mosquitoes, but it probably doesn't need the ones that are major human disease vectors. There are dozens of mosquito species in any given location, and this treatment is species- specific.

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okgusto t1_ivhnirl wrote

Genuinely curious. Why does the ecosystem need mosquitoes. Even the non disease carrying ones.

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zapporian t1_ivhrbs9 wrote

Bats and birds eat them. And the males are pollinators (and ofc don't suck animal blood; only the females do, for egg-laying)

And there's probably more cascading elements that I'm not aware of, but at a minimum they (and their larvae) are a fairly abundant food source for all kinds of small animals (incl amphibians, fish, etc)

There isn't really any animal in the natural world that doesn't have some kind of a supportive role somewhere, outside of pure internal parasites and the like.

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jimmymerc89 t1_ivjxfot wrote

What about panda?

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Soepoelse123 t1_ivk3jum wrote

Chinese have removed their forrests, so now they don’t really serve a purpose. They did beforehand and was top notch evolved to their specific function.

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DanTrachrt t1_ivhrh24 wrote

As the top level comment mentioned, they’re a food source for bats, and also spiders and many other animals and even carnivorous plants in the right areas.

Eliminating mosquitoes can quickly mess up the entire food chain.

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J3diMind t1_ivhuubd wrote

male mosquitoes do a lot of pollination work iirc. and they are food for larger animals. something something, circle of live..

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rstraker t1_ivic3w3 wrote

Getting rid of em makes it easier to cut up the topical rainforests of the world. Make progress. Get the non-immune European colonialists in there. The greater good.

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