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 think about this all the time.
damnit…
imma watch this movie again.
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.
Shit, as a Floridian, you may have just convinced me we should let them live. We already have too many people moving here.
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.
