I read once that ironically one of the most important ecological niches for mosquitos is that they keep humans out of a bunch of places that allow those habitats to be preserved. It’s their annoyance and medical danger to people that makes them so valuable to the ecosystem.
Thanks for the rainforests, mosquitos.
Shit, as a Floridian, you may have just convinced me we should let them live. We already have too many people moving here.
No takesy-backies!
That, and their larvae clean freshwater we wouldn't ever think about cleaning, so there's that too.
Smartest argument that I've heard for their existence!
Its sort of ironic how mosquitoes are at the very bottom of the food chain for most of the ecologies they inhabit... But at the same time, is the biggest killer (through the transmission of malaria and other diseases) of humans, who see themselves at the top of the food chain.
In reality, the food chain is more like a food cycle.
This is one gamble I am willing to make.
As much as I hate mosquitoes, I must admit that without them, entire ecological systems would collapse...
Are we sure about that though? There are a lot of other small insects that fill the same niche without biting humans (including other mosquito species).
I remember people used to complain, "what about the bats?" until we found that mosquitos make up at most 2% of a bat's diet.
I wonder what face would ticks pull in this case where we already know there is no drawback for 100% annihilating them.
Those little monsters would just try harder.
tick dont have anything on the horror of bedbugs.
I think its unethical to cause an animal to go extinct on purpose. Like it seems a very nuclear option to me.
On the other hand I hate these mosquitoes tho.. And they are a medical threat to humans
I think its unethical to cause an animal to go extinct on purpose.
Counterpoint: guinea worm, a nightmarish human parasite with possible mentions back to ancient Egypt. As of the mid 1980's, it infected millions every year. Now it is on the verge of extinction due to a very concerted international effort. All those little worms were doing was causing intense physical suffering for humans and other animals.
Yeah, if we let them live, people suffer and die. If we make them extinct some bugs will die ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Seems like we could somehow try to genetically engineer their bites to not itch at least
I still don't want those disease vectors biting me and giving me space Zika.
OP, take your nail, the sharpest you have.
Now press it firmly into the sting, then rotate by 90° and repeat.
Dunno if it's placebo but makes some itching go away for me.
To be clear - @[email protected] means your FINGERnail. Don't stab yourself.
This is the first time in this thread I'm putting it together they were talking about fingernails. It was a wild ride for a second there.
Lol indeed. Thanks for making it clear.
You're still among us, OP, are you?
We have a suction tool, I think it's literally called the bug bite thing or something. Basically it suctions on to your arm where the bite was and you pull your skin up into this tube and it sucks out the venom that causes the itching as well as the stinger if one was left behind.
My wife and I haven't had a bug bite any time we've had that thing handy, so mainly we just put it on each other's nipples for shits & gigs. I can't really say that it's effective, but it is fun.
Wait... I'm not the only person that does that?
Lol!
That just sounds like an arbitrary way to scratch an itch
I usually heat a spoon with a lighter and then burn the itch away.
This, but I use the hottest water I can stand under the tap and go a few times.
The way this works is because the reason a mosquito bite is itchy is due to an enzyme in mosquito saliva which locally numbs an area when a mosquito bites you. Once the mosquito saliva enzyme starts wearing off, it registers as itchiness until the enzyme is completely gone. So, using heat to denature the enzyme, making it impossible to do it’s job, makes the itching go away.
First part of the sentence gave me immediate Trainspotting vibes
Hear me out. Mosquito laser fence. I think we have a few years before the patent expires.
https://hackaday.com/2021/03/08/laser-zap-that-mosquito/
I was thinking this too, apparently not a new idea.
That's a new article. Sweet! Thanks for sharing
Unfortunately, we probably can't. A LOT of things eat mosquitos.
I'll settle for a repellent that works or better yet something that makes me no longer react to bites.
There is some promising research with gene drives, which are essentially genes that when passed on to offspring, overwrite the other copy of the gene from the other parent.
It may be possible to introduce non disease spreading mosquitoes with gene drives into the wild and within an extremely short time all mosquitoes in the population would be non disease carrying.
Of course, this is something that you may not be able to reverse once done, so it's a pretty drastic step to take after very intense scrutiny.
i would imagine there is a way to make mosquitoes just not want to bite humans or remove the reaction somehow in the future.
If they didn't itch I wouldn't really care that they eat me, aside from passing on diseases. Or when one gets into the bedroom and keeps waking you up by buzzing in your ear randomly....
Since 1990, 90% of the insexts dissapeared. So yeah let exterminate more.
Source?
90% PERCENT OF THE INSEXTS
Not exactly how OP put it, but still pretty alarming stuff here
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/GLOBAL-ENVIRONMENT/INSECT-APOCALYPSE/egpbykdxjvq/
Bonus doom & gloom
That sounds odd to me, since that's about when the DDT ban was really going into force worldwide. The resurgence of bedbugs in the US has been linked to our no longer using DDT.
I really need to watch that new Puss in Boots. Watched Shrek 2 months ago and found it okay - it only made me more hyped for PIB.
I take it the answer is that we still (unfortunately) need them?
Last I checked, the only niche they fill in nature is being food for predators like dragonflies and bats.
Untrue.
https://www.britannica.com/story/what-purposes-do-mosquitoes-serve-in-ecosystems
https://blog.nwf.org/2020/09/what-purpose-do-mosquitoes-serve/
https://www.mosquitoreviews.com/learn/mosquitoes-pollination
There's different species that serve different purposes in the ecosystem.
https://www.lukerchocolate.com/en/innovation/meet-the-mosquito-behind-cocoa-tree-pollination/
https://www.nps.gov/articles/chocolate-midge.htm
All that being said, I can't stand them lol
I can feed those dragonflies and bats myself, so no need for those mosquitoes. I say bring out the nuclear option
I read that only a few species bite humans. If this is correct, we can exterminate just those, and leave the rest for the dragonflies and the bats
damnit...
imma watch this movie again.
I think there's a little stick of some kind of medicine or another you can buy to rub on a bite as well as not touch it, scratching makes it a lot worse. Other than that, try not to have a lot of sweat on you and don't stay still for a long time outside.
I think about this all the time.
