Do mosquitos serve any useful purpose?

Tags: Environment, Science, Insects, Mosquitos, Ecology
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I'm sure they are useful to the diseases they carry around and spread but from the human point of view, do mosquitos serve any useful purpose?

They are the most deadly animal to humans (in terms of the amount of death they have caused) and are an obvious nuisance but what would the effect on the ecosytem be if they were all eradicated?

I've been fantasizing about a mosquito-free world but am curious about the any specifics about the impact they have on the ecosystem (other than the obvious bane they are to those of us whose blood they suck).

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Type: Question • Score: 10 • Views: 1,555 • Replies: 32

View best answer, chosen by Robert Gentel

@Robert Gentel,

Yes, apparently they do serve some good according to this short article HERE.

1 Reply

@Reyn,

Thanks, I'd considered their place in the food chain for fish and bats (I lived with a bat in my attic once in Brazil, loved not having mosquitos even though he flew around my room sometimes at night, and I have a fish tank and feed the mosquitos to my fish) but didn't know anything about their role as pollinators.

2 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

The flowers thing will not help, though.....it's the male mosquitoes who feed from flowers.....the females need blood to reproduce.

I'd forgotten about all the things that live on mosquito larvae and mosquitoes!

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

[...] didn't know anything about their role as pollinators.

Yes, same here. This came as a complete surprise as I read the article. I thought pollinators were mainly bees and hummingbirds.

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This question demonstrates either a lack of understanding of ecological systems or a constipated understanding based on homo sapien chauvinism.

Now this is entirely different from asking the question: Do mosqitos serve mankind in any way?

The latter is much more relevant a question.

2 Replies

@Finn dAbuzz,

The two are inextricably tied together, Finn.

1 Reply

I'm reminded of the story about the tourist standing by a lake in Maine which was known to be leech-infested. "What possible useful purpose do leeches serve?" he wondered aloud. A local, standing nearby, answered: "Keeps all you folks from dirtying the lake by swimming in it, don't they?"

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

This question demonstrates either a lack of understanding of ecological systems or a constipated understanding based on homo sapien chauvinism.

Now this is entirely different from asking the question: Do mosqitos serve mankind in any way?

The latter is much more relevant a question.

You really don't read any more than the titles do you? From the opening post:

Robert Gentel wrote:

I'm sure they are useful to the diseases they carry around and spread but from the human point of view, do mosquitos serve any useful purpose?

0 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

None whatever. Whoever invented mosquitoes, which was quite assuredly not God, was some sort of an asshole. Other than that, we damned nearly HAD a mosquitoe free world in the late 1950s, and then Rachel Carson came along...

1 Reply

@gungasnake,

Hey Gunga, mosquitoes weren't 'invented'.

Where does one click for "best answer" in the thread?

1 Reply

@JTT,

For now, but not for long.

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

For now, but not for long.

By god, I think that we're in agreement, Finn.

1 Reply

If there were no mosquitoes all those insect repellent companies would go out of business. They are very good for the economy!

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@JTT,

I doubt it.

1 Reply

@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

Finn wrote: I doubt it.

That's too bad, Finn. It would have marked the first time you've been right.

1 Reply

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Where does one click for "best answer" in the thread?

only the original questioner has the option to select the best answer

1 Reply

Mquick answer is population control. And I don't mean human populations. And I don't know that controlling other populations is of much use to humans.

What about ticks..... pretty useless little bloodsuckers too.

Do mosquitos serve any useful purpose?

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