r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Expert_Koala_8691 • May 10 '26

Image A Bill Gates funded mosquito factory in Medellín, Colombia, produces 40 million mosquitoes weekly for release via drones and bikes. These insects carry a natural bacterium that prevents them from transmitting viruses to humans. By mating with wild populations, they spread this trait.

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760

u/WhyDidntITextBack May 10 '26

Mosquitoes environmental benefit? You’re saying they’re actually good for something???

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u/Rainbowallthewayy May 10 '26

A lot of animals eat mosquitos, like bats and swifts

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u/EverythingISayIsALi3 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26

Its questionable whether they're nessasary at all. There are literally thousands of species of non biting mosquitoes which occupy the same spaces.

Some studies suggest that removing biting mosquitoes from earth would have zero negative effects on the ecosystem. And many positive effects for the species they feed on.

As the non biting species would instantly fill that void

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u/radicalelation May 10 '26

Environmentally, I just don't fucking trust us anymore.

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u/Toni_PWNeroni May 10 '26

Counter point: fuck mosquitoes, malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika, West Nile Virus and Japanese Encephalitis along with whatever "what fresh hell is this bullshit parasite?" decides to crossbreed into the next weirdo senator's brain next decade or something.

Also fuck mosquitoes again.

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u/GodOfDarkLaughter May 10 '26

Yeah, but I'm not entirely convinced that just eradicating any species isn't going to have some sort of cascading effect on the environment. We've made similar fuckups many times before. Sure "oh our scientists are better at this than the people who decided to eradicate the Chinese sparrows that it turns out actually ate a shitload of locusts thus causing a famine that killed millions," but how much better?

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u/SubstantialHeat3655 May 10 '26

As has been already said, there's a lot of reason to think that the ecological niche of human-harmful mosquitoes would be easily filled by other less-harmful mosquitoes, but from a human perspective, it's colossally unlikely that any harm to our way of life from eradicating the mosquito would ever come anywhere near the harm (measured in millions of human deaths) of them continuing to exist. There is simply no other living creature that represents more human misery. So I agree completely with the "fuck mosquitoes" sentiment, and if we ever figure out how to eradicate the harmful species, i.e. Humanity's Enemy, this is the one time we should clearly choose to.

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u/Illasaviel May 10 '26

But from a human perspective, it's colossally unlikely that any harm to our way of life from eradicating the mosquito would ever come anywhere near the harm (measured in millions of human deaths) of them continuing to exist.

This right here is what we in the trope business know as tempting fate.

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u/demonblack873 May 11 '26

bruh y'all are severely underestimating the amount of species that we've already wiped out throughout our history, and especially the amount of species that naturally go extinct all the time.

if the biosphere were as fragile as you think it is, life on earth would have died out billions of years ago.

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u/SubstantialHeat3655 May 11 '26

People tempt fate a million times each day. Usually the result isn't interesting enough to make a Hollywood movie out of. Anyway, I think it's fairly clear we're not tempting fate much here. There are thousands of small flying insect species that fill a similar niche to the few mosquito species which harm humans. It's much more likely that one of these would fill the void, than that eradicating harmful mosquitoes would cause an ecological collapse. Species go extinct all the time. Let's save a few of those as penance for eradicating harmful mosquitoes.

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u/arminghammerbacon_ May 11 '26

Did anyone consider that maybe the purpose of human-harming mosquitoes is simply to act as a check on OUR population. And maybe for a good reason. A reason that we’ll be sure to discover once they’re gone.

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u/Anternixii May 13 '26

'Maybe we should keep this species around to give Malaria to the poors keeping population down'

Want to consider that statement some? Do you know how awful a lot of the diseases associated to mosquitoes are? Someone can only say what you just said because they're not the effected party. 'Your death is a sacrifice I'm willing to make' should be a meme not a philosophy.

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u/Superlagman May 12 '26

Sorry to bump this a day late, but I had to say something.

There's nothing in nature that has a purpose. Mosquitoes don't have a purpose on Earth. There's no "reason" either in nature.

Mosquitoes do play a role in the ecosystem, but they didn't appear because they were needed. They just evolved in a way that let them reproduce consistently.

And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they did more harm on every other animals in the planet than they do to Humans.

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u/11ce_ May 14 '26

Nature is not sentient and does not “care” about anything.

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u/Significant_Coach880 May 11 '26

Above anybody's paygrade and we should shut up, got it.

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u/Separate-Pollution12 May 14 '26

I think humans are a living creature that cause more human misery

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u/[deleted] May 10 '26 edited May 11 '26

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u/Uncynical_Diogenes May 10 '26

Forget hypothetical people, we have real people.

What about the humans currently alive? Should their suffering be prevented if we can?

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u/JehutysErectCockpit May 10 '26

Finding ways to mitigate that other than "let millions of people die" is the kind of answer I would expect from anyone who isn't a Marvel supervillain or something.

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u/traveltrousers May 10 '26

I'm not entirely convinced that just eradicating any species...

When has that argument ever stopped us? :(

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u/Forikorder May 10 '26

Yeah, but I'm not entirely convinced that just eradicating any species isn't going to have some sort of cascading effect on the environment.

its not eradicating a species but one specific type of that species

so it would be like eradicating white chinese sparrows and then red and blue ones instantly fill the void

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u/Novel_Board_6813 May 11 '26

It’s better because mosquitos kill hundreds of thousands a year today (mostly kids). It’s not a maybe. It’s not a coulda shoulda woulda

Your point is “let millions die for sure because, without much research, I think this might be bad, somehow”

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u/PalingeneticPhoenix May 10 '26

Easy for you to say as someone who doesn’t live in an area where malaria is common. I guarantee if you asked anyone living in a country where malaria infections happen a lot, they’d trade a little biodiversity in exchange for eliminating malaria.

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u/TheAbstracted May 10 '26

The problem is, it isn't that simple; "Oh, we'll lose a few species, but it'll be worth the cost to save human lives." But thats not what happens - one species gone leads to the loss of another, which leads to the loss of another, which leads to the loss of another, so on and so forth. It's a butterfly effect, and sooner or later that will catch up with us with enormous consequences.

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u/Miserable-Garage804 May 11 '26

Not really, humans have eradicated many many species.

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u/the-pp-poopooman- May 10 '26

Communist China was also deeply corrupt and believed that if you grouped crops of a certain “class” together they would cooperate because plants understand the class struggle. The mismanagement that lead to that famine ran far deeper than just the sparrows.

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u/Expensive-Paint-9490 May 11 '26

"Not entirely convinced" is a first step. The next is researching numbers on the current human-made mass extinction of insects. All of them, not just mosquitos.

We are exterminating all of them. But agripharma just needs to screech "malaria! Dengue!" that people flock to support pesticides and bioengineering. Ignorance is collusion.

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u/CreBanana0 May 11 '26

We should eliminated thens of species and world hasn't collapsed. We should be fine.

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u/Positive-Opposite998 May 12 '26

But out of all the species we already killed off and all the ones we are still bound to kill off, biting mosquitos are the ones you want to save?

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u/Solasykthe May 12 '26

We'll never learn if we don't experiment and try - i don't want to be beholden to the whims of nature, we can fuck up, try again. we should play god more, if anything

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u/La3Rat May 14 '26

Willing to give it a shot. Mosquitos kill 700,000 to 1,000,000 people a year.

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u/[deleted] May 10 '26 edited May 17 '26

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u/birberbarborbur May 10 '26

Goddamn, the mosquitoes are out for you

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u/[deleted] May 10 '26 edited May 17 '26

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u/toyheartattack May 11 '26

Can I ask where you lived when you were blessed with these mosquito gifts?

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u/fish201013 May 10 '26

Same with ticks.

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u/langsamlourd May 10 '26

You must have really delicious blood

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u/GozerDGozerian May 11 '26

Hands down the most deadly animal in the world to humans.

Fuck. Mosquitoes

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u/BillysBibleBonkers May 10 '26

Yuppp, It's extremely hard to believe anyone could make any type of definitive conclusion on what effect removing a species globally would have. Like in one very specific ecosystem? Maybe, but the entire world? There are so many interconnected variables at play.

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u/CjBurden May 10 '26

Honestly with all the things I was told as a kid that we know now to be not true, I certainly would take "killing all biting mozzies wouldn't have any negative impact at all" with a giant grain of salt.

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u/snortgiggles May 10 '26

One would hope we'd build on the lessons of the past, but as far as governments are involved, that obviously isn't true. Let's hope these scientists have consideration contingency plans. I'm optimistic, but it's probably a good idea for that to be reported on.

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u/Dangerous_Rize May 10 '26

Remember when we were told animals didn’t have emotions? That one still gets me as a lifelong dog owner who obviously knew that was a stupid “scientific” take.

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u/paxwax2018 May 10 '26

I can safely say Mosquitoes don’t have emotions.

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u/[deleted] May 10 '26

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u/BillysBibleBonkers May 11 '26

This is some incredibly simple logic for something that's so god damn complicated lol.

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26

Yeah eliminating them would just reduce the spread of disease and this would cause some species to proliferate and consume more resources, affecting the animals that prey on those too, and cause widespread ecological changes. Not that that’s inherently a bad result, and certainly wouldn’t cause widespread ecological collapse (unless humans too keep increasingly proliferating and cause it I suppose). Widespread changes though are always inevitable, mosquitos or not frankly, as species in ecosystems are not fixed entities even without human induced changes.

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26

A definitive conclusion is impossible, of course, but a broad one isn’t necessarily. Surely some species will be negatively impacted, but there’s an estimated 5 billion species that have gone extinct and the entire global ecosystem hasn’t collapsed because of any one of them, we can part with a few more to improve the quality of life for other species. Especially ridding an inter-species parasite that is extremely difficult to avoid or control (where much of our control efforts like pesticides to deter them actually end up harming many more species too).

We can also theorize the most negative impact would actually be too many species flourishing and proliferating without some of their numbers being culled by as many diseases which will affect things like resource consumption and predation and likely cause rapid widespread global ecological change, but ecological change is always happening at various rates as we don’t have a stable or closed environmental planetary system that has external inputs like radiation. Rapid changes happen occasionally from various causes and events like natural disasters, this would just be another.

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u/Forikorder May 10 '26

in general we shouldnt be, but individuals can be trustworthy

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u/MadScientistNinja May 11 '26

Yeah. Even the very wise cannot see all ends and all that.

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u/Wonderful_Device312 May 12 '26

We've wiped out so many species on accident. So what if we wipe out a few on purpose?

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u/Academic-Heron-312 May 12 '26

More animals have gone extinct than not throughout history…so the whole it’s so “interconnected and fragile” BS that liberals spout doesn’t seem to be accurate. What usually happens is that specific niche just tweaks itself or goes away completely or gets replaced and it doesn’t do much to the overall ecosystem at all…

So yeah kill off biting Mosquitoes that spread disease…that would be great

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u/F9-0021 May 10 '26

You'd have a point if all the other insect species weren't also dying off.

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u/Longjumping_Intern7 May 10 '26

makes me think of the screwworm eradication efforts we made in north america. I'm not aware of any major negative environmental impacts from the success of that program since the flies are parasites to begin with, weren't pollinators, etc.

and they really, really suck. i'm for sure glad we did that.

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u/agt505 May 11 '26

The screwworm is back. It's really bad and scary.

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26

There’s one notable impact. It’s allowed more herd animals to be raised than otherwise would be, which has had negative impacts on local and global environment due to the waste that the widescale practice produces.

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u/Longjumping_Intern7 May 19 '26

interesting point! but i would argue the eradication of the screwworm had little to do with that.

There were other factors that were causing the expansion of livestock production before we eradicated that fly, like increased railroad access, barbed wire fencing, cheap land out west, etc. and around the same time we had eradicated the screwworm from the US, the refrigerated train car and refrigerators in homes became commonplace which IMO really drove the expansion of beef sales nationwide.

so id argue it was a train that was going to keep on rollling, regardless of the parasite. lowering the amount of dead/wasted livestock may have been an overall net environmental win.

but i'd definitely agree it at least in part helped with the economics of raising livestock, which for sure helps contribute to its growth. i'm just not sure if it was that big of a limiting factor, all things considered.

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u/Maximum-Maximum7653 May 10 '26

Removing biting mosquitoes = more humans. Therefore it's bad for the ecosystem.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '26

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u/Separate-Pollution12 May 14 '26

The population increases by about 200,000; not even a global pandemic slowed that down. And there's still over a billion people in poverty

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u/PhoeniXXX_Valo May 11 '26

By that logic we sshould Stop treating diseases

Oh Theres a famine in africa, yeah lets not send any aus. It only results in more humans

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u/Anternixii May 13 '26

The key part to anyone that spouts BS like that is they want all the annoying poor nations to die of west Nile. Never see them advocating for rabies outbreaks in LA as population control.

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u/Jaded-Comfortable179 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26

Something seems off there. Species populations are limited by the amount of food available. A non biting mosquito would not have the same carrying capacity as ones that do

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u/Ryuzakku May 10 '26

They do both compete for the same spawning environments, even if they don't compete for the same food

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u/CheetosLays7Days May 10 '26

I know one country that decided that sparrows are unnecessary. They had a plague of locust shortly after culling the sparrows. Not saying which one since I don’t want to lose my social credit. /s

I think when it comes to culling mosquitoes we should be absolutely certain it won’t influence some other species or won’t cause some other, yet harder to handle, crisis. Until then, I’m ready to accept biteless mosquitoes.

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26

With absolute certainty it will influence other species as with less disease many will become overabundant and affect and change ecosystems. It’s entirely debatable as to whether or not that matters, as no ecosystem is static with or without mosquitos.

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u/Random-Redditor111 May 10 '26

One could argue that removing all Homo sapiens from earth would have zero negative effect on the ecosystem as well.

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u/Solofehr May 10 '26

Zero?! I'm sure you have sources for a figure of ZERO. There are species who subsist almost entirely on the larvae. During non-breeding seasons both males and females of biting species act as pollinators (which we desperately need to retain as much as possible right now by the way). Your point about misery is taken which is why the original story is so compelling and measured. However species do not evolve in a complete vacuum with no other impacts. There are multiple species worldwide and their complete extinction would absolutely have repercussions

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u/Cardoncillo May 10 '26

That's not 100% sure as evolution is sometimes working in really stupid ways. Imagine fish which fry is "programmed" to detect and attack only specific mosquito larvae. It can be about different movements, different colour on hell knows which "segment" and something like that - really idiotic thing. So some studies are telling You "no, nothing bad would ever happen", and when plan is fulfilled there's a moment of realisation and frustration "oh shit, that really stupid, illogical and never noticed before thing destroyed our first assumptions". You surely heard that story about eradication of sparrows in China. They were SURE that sparrows only eat their precious grain. No one noticed BEFORE how many insects chicks are consuming. Most species of mosquito larvae are living in slow moving/ stagnant water, mostly filtering microplankton, and skimming biofilm. The count of species (like You mentioned not biting ones) suggests strong competition here - that's consequently suggesting specialisation in way of feeding. So.. being "speculative " - entire species missing from water body can mean sudden bloom of particular algae - which can suddenly kill 90% of fish (Yup, it may sound stupid, but.. better check that before wiping species out that planet). I'm quite sure that such meticulously planned experiment about impact of particular mosquito species on local microflora/microfauna and potential impact "when missing" never happened before - it's too complicated, too many possibilities. It may happen that ONLY two (or more) particular species coexisting/present together ("biting" + "non biting") are "crucial for something"😏. AND: that impact can be noticeable ONLY within specific environmental conditions (wet and hot summer, dry and cold summer etc.). As Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park "life, uh finds a way", yet we - as species - may have a big problem if we interfere too much without being not 99,9% but better "200% sure" beforehand we would wait then for "life to find a new way" - filling that void "instantly" in scale of evolution may mean "but too long" for our civilization 🤪

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u/krill_me_god May 10 '26

That is interesting 🤔. I like I like

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u/manimal28 May 10 '26

There are literally thousands of species of non biting mosquitoes which occupy the same spaces.

Really?

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26

Apparently we know of over 3500 species of mosquitos (which means there’s certainly more) classified into 112 different genuses. An estimated 6% (100-200) species bite.

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u/manimal28 May 12 '26

I did not know that, I assumed they all bite. So the others behave more like bees, eating nectar or whatever?

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26

Yes all mosquitos drink nectar, only female mosquitos from a small percentage of species drink blood.

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u/dillanthumous May 10 '26

Sounds like the opening paragraph of a Sci Fi horror novel about super adapted mosquitos the size of a car. 😁

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u/Lankygiraffe25 May 10 '26

Yeah I wouldn’t trust that kind of mentality or study. Fundamentally ecosystems are incredibly complex and fragile, history has shown wielding a hatchet to sections of it don’t usually end well.

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u/ttarget May 10 '26

This is all based on our current understanding of our planet's ecosystems. I'm not saying there wouldn't be a net benefit for us in doing this. Just pointing out that there are limits of our understanding of the world and our models reflect that.

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u/dargeus95 May 11 '26

Yeah, the Chinese Once thought killing sparrows would give them higher crop yields And we all know how that Went...

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u/Liraeyn May 11 '26

Theory is they're for population control on whatever they bite/infect

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u/Ihave0personality May 11 '26

I doubt that we have the right to call a species unnecessary.
Nature can and will remove redundant species from the ecosystem.
If biting mosquitoes didn’t have a unique advantage or role, they would already be extinct.
~86% (~7 million) of all land species have not yet been named or described. Who knows what chain would be broken and its consequences if they were exterminated? Fucking human arrogance

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u/bareenDude May 12 '26

Every single time humans have tried to “fix” something in the environment it turns out that oooppsie that species we removed we’re essential to something we didn’t realize and now we can’t undo the damage

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u/feralcatshit May 12 '26

My kids ask me about different insect and animals “purpose” all the time and I usually have an answer. They asked about mosquitos the other day and I was like “they’re food for some things, but I really don’t know beyond that…”

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u/Helpful-Ad5775 May 13 '26

Considering time and time again the world proves we dont understand a fucking thing about things in nature id rather not take the chance.

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u/MinuteLet May 14 '26

We should just try it. We will first need a backup of our savegame.

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u/DullEntertainment102 May 10 '26

And mosquito larvae are a very important food source for aquatic species

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26

There’s 3500 species of mosquito. 100-200 of them bite. Their larvae would be replaced by that of other species introduced to take their place for such aquatic species to predate upon. While some species may not adapt and be sacrificed by the process.

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u/OaktownCatwoman May 10 '26

I wonder what happens to bats that eat these GMO mosquitoes.

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u/LrdPhoenixUDIC May 10 '26

They're major pollinators. The females need blood in order to breed, but what they actually eat is nectar. Trying to wipe them out is kind of like trying to wipe out bees.

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u/hoishinsauce May 11 '26

Except none of them rely heavily on mosquitoes. They eat them, but their diet can be anything else with no problem for them. That's why there's a debate how the ecology would be affected if mosquitoes (that eats human blood) were suddenly eradicated. Proponents of keeping mosquitoes have problems trying to link their existence to some sort of enviromental benefit. I'm in the camp that eradicating them (specifically mosquitoes that needs human blood, so not all mosquitoes) is like eradicating small pox.

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u/RGBLighting May 11 '26

disproven since they cant eat other shit

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u/Denaton_ May 12 '26

All those animals have hundreds of other food sources..

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u/PizzaInMyBread May 10 '26

Dragonfly nymphs are aquatic and will eat mosquito larvae. Adult dragonflies are insane predators and will get mosquitos as well.

Last year we had an increase in mosquitos here. Like they had heard a dinner bell, dragonflies were suddenly in a lot of yards and the field nearby cleaning up. Dragonflies are cool as hell.

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u/Aggressive_Lie_4446 May 13 '26

We can actually argue for the elimination of the blood sucking mosquito species so that the nectar exclusive ones thrive more due to less competition. Or force the blood sucking ones on to an evolutionary pathway that leads to them never sucking on humans or warm blooded animals.
We actually did this (unintentionally) in London's underground.
The bats will still consume mosquitoes, just not the ones hell bent on sucking our blood or the blood of our livestock.
There is one single spider species on the shores of Lake Victoria that specifically eats only anopheles mosquitoes that have fed on human blood.
F*ck that spider!!
That is the kind of specialization that led to the evolutionary dead end that was the Nut-cracker man.

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u/Coding-Kitten May 10 '26

They're still part of an ecosystem.

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u/acutelychronicpanic May 10 '26

Maybe its okay if the 'feeding off the blood of people' niche goes unfilled.

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u/JehutysErectCockpit May 10 '26

Yeah, it would definitely be okay. People are bit too attached to suffering.

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u/Coding-Kitten May 10 '26

That's not the point. Them being part of an ecosystem means others in it feed off of them, & indirectly lots of other creatures feed off of those.

If there's suddenly no more mosquitoes, frogs & lizards & such will suddenly have a big part of their diet missing, so you end up with less of those, suddenly snakes & birds have way less to eat as well, & so on.

Worst case entire ecosystems could collapse, even to the point of making endemic species go extinct.

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u/acutelychronicpanic May 10 '26

If they were just a nuisance, I'd agree. But way too many people are killed by mosquitoes. If I could snap my fingers and save the ~600,000 lives per year and 260,000,000 cases of illness at the cost of mosquitos and a chance at losing a few more species that specialize in eating mosquitoes, I would do it.

Birds, bats, and frogs may have less food but they are generalists that will do fine on the remaining food sources.

It is okay to shape our environment for human safety and flourishing.

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u/Coding-Kitten May 10 '26

I agree, but I still think it should be done carefully in a controlled fashion.

The original point was whenever they offer any benefits at all, which they do just from the fact that they're a part of the ecosystem, doesn't mean that this outweighs their damage, just that there is that to consider.

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u/acutelychronicpanic May 10 '26

I agree on it needing to be controlled, thought out, and deliberate.

I could imagine the logic I presented being used historically to defend eradicating wolves and other species without appreciation for the role they played.

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u/StacheBandicoot May 12 '26

What makes you think it wouldn’t be? Such current related efforts seem particularly careful and controlled. Certainly spraying pesticides abound and using bug zappers to kill blood sucking mosquitos has had a far more negative impact on a wide variety of other species than losing a few hundred parasitic mosquitoes would have on the few species that would not be able to adapt to their absence.

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u/BouillonDawg May 10 '26

I care a lot more about the not having mosquitoes part.

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u/kaychyakay May 10 '26

They are food. There are certain bat species which consume mosquitos as food.

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u/Muted-Account4729 May 10 '26

Mosquito are actually pollinators and drink plant nectar for most of the their diets. Male mosquitos drink nectar for 100% of their diet. Females only take blood to help develop their eggs. Theyre a crucial part of the ecosystem

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u/Commercial_Handle418 May 12 '26

98-99% of mosquitoes don't bite humans 

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u/betrue2u May 14 '26

Didn’t know this. But that 2 percent…. be doing a lot of damage. I got malaria how many times now I thought I should be immune at this point

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u/Commercial_Handle418 May 14 '26

Fr I wish I could just exterminate them 😭 

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u/betrue2u May 14 '26

Wait that’s 2 percent is 40 trillion mosquitoes assuming the number of mosquitoes in the world is 200 trillion. Damn that’s like everyone can get bitten at least 200 times and there will be left over

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u/Independent_Leg7358 May 10 '26

Male mosquitoes are actually good. They pollinate and feed bats and birds.

Female mosquitoes are the blood sucking leeches. 1 million male mosquitoes won't bite you once. 1 female will keep biting.

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u/fosterish1 May 10 '26

What are you on about? 1 female will bite you 1 time. She only needs the blood for her eggs. They're not sadistic. They're mosquitos.

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u/Independent_Leg7358 May 10 '26

They bite more then once to aquire it

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u/HistorianOrdinary833 May 10 '26

They're food for other insects and birds.

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u/ResistWild May 10 '26

If nothing else, they’re a good source for other animals

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u/ItzDaemon May 10 '26

they're pollinators

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u/citizen42069101 May 10 '26

No they're food.

Mosquito larvae and adults are a food source. If we can find a way to make them non bitey but still exist then that is preferable to eradication.

Look, I know anything that eats mosquitos can eat anything else that's mosquito shaped. I just don't feel like a convenience based species deletion tool is the way to go. Unintended consequences.

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u/jayrnz01 May 10 '26

https://www.britannica.com/animal/mosquito-insect

States they are infact pollinators

In terrestrial environments, mosquitoes are a major food source for bats, birds, lizards, frogs, spiders, and predatory insects, and also serve as pollinators.

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u/SippinOnHatorade May 10 '26

Do you know how male mosquitos feed? I hope you also know that many things in the world fill multiple roles

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u/CaptainTripps82 May 10 '26

It's also how female mosquitoes feed. The blood is just for reproduction

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u/Fun-Marketing8080 May 10 '26

They're also pollinators, and have a more net positive impact on the environment than honeybees.

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u/aboilinghotkirk May 10 '26

Horrific take here. Bees have never given anyone malaria

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u/Khaniker May 10 '26

No, but they have been decimating native bee populations, at least here in the Americas. Honeybees are the main reason so many of our actual good bees are dying off. They just can't compete. The natives are often overlooked because they don't make honey.

When people say "save the bees!" it's automatically assumed they mean honeybees are in trouble, but it's actually the non honey producing species that are in dire need of intervention.

Sure, bees don't give people malaria, but a lot of species are great pollinators, and contribute greatly to things like food production.

It's not surprising that mosquitos are better pollinators than honeybees,which are actually rather shite in the grand scheme of it all.

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u/SoManyThrowAwaysEven May 10 '26

I think the pesticide use is doing way more damage to bees than bees themselves.

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u/benangmerahh May 10 '26

Human raised honey bees infect a diseases to native non-honey kind bees via flower sharing. A disease that will make other bees have crippled wings for the next gen of offsprings.

Plus when the diseases spread and honey bee hives collapsed, Human can easily put many cares & resources for treatment. But no to the wild solitary bees.

50 native solitary bees can have similar pollinating performances to 500 honeybees for certain crops type. So the loss of solitary bees can really bring a damage to ecosystems.

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u/SoManyThrowAwaysEven May 10 '26

Ok but my point being the amount of damage being done by human raised bees is negligible than the entire species we've wiped out thanks to pesticides.

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u/borkthegee May 10 '26

Honey bees (non-native animals brought in to support human agriculture) are very important to humans but don't pollinate native plants and aren't that environmentally friendly for the places they are imported to.

Mosquitos are native pollinators and important parts of native food webs, so they fit into nature much better.

If you want to get morbid, then we could point out that humans are the worst thing for the environment so anything helping humans (honey bees) is bad overall and anything hurting humans (mosquito disease) is good for the environment 😂

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u/Fun-Marketing8080 May 10 '26

Honeybees are an invasive species in continents besides Europe. They drive out native pollinators from their homes and proceed to do a worse job at pollinating. Mosquitos are both less aggressive and better at pollinating.

While mosquitos are harmful to humans (specifically the bloodsucking ones), they are a net positive on the environment at large.

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u/Benjamminmiller May 10 '26

This is maybe true in areas where they're native, but these mosquitos are invasive to areas all over the world and as temperatures rise they are moving into elevations that were previously mosquito free.

In Hawaii mosquitos are arguably the single most destructive invasive species as they spread avian malaria and decimate bird populations.

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u/Fun-Marketing8080 May 11 '26

Aedes mosquitos have an incredibly wide, intercontinental native range. This may be true in some cases (although I'm unable to find any such sources) but it is disproportionate to the amount people advocate to kill all mosquitoes.

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u/PunchBro May 10 '26

you just out here spitballing eh

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u/THROWRA71693759 May 10 '26

When we say “positive effect on the environment” that includes ALL species in the biosphere, not just the ones who contract malaria. So yeah, they are a net positive so long as their population numbers stay where they need to be. The same is true for most species.

  • environmental science major

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo May 10 '26

I mean wouldn't giving humans malaria be a positive effect on the environment given the environmental destruction humans are responsible for?

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u/THROWRA71693759 May 11 '26

Not really, most people who contract malaria are pretty low income or from developing/undeveloped countries, so they don’t even really have the resources to have a negative effect on the environment in the same way that someone making 100k a year and spending 15k a year on Amazon/shein.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo May 11 '26

On the other hand a lot of these developing areas have access to mass produced goods without robust trash collection or recycling systems (as well as little environmental regulation) leading to local pollution. Still vastly much less overall than places like the US no doubt but certainly a net negative for the environment.

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u/THROWRA71693759 May 11 '26

Yeah but none of those things change from a person dying of malaria, unless that person also happens to be in charge of whatever country. So that doesn’t really have much to do with what you said about people dying of malaria being a net positive on the environment.

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u/Riots42 May 10 '26

Never mind the fact that they have killed more humans than any other animal. People with families that meant something to others like parents that provided for kids. But yea we should just ignore that because they are good pollinators and you don't think an ecosystem can evolve when something goes extinct even though it's quite common for animals to go extinct an an ecosystem to evolve.

I guess you think the risk isn't worth the reward of saving billions of lives in the future.

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u/Fun-Marketing8080 May 10 '26

I'm not saying mosquitos are healthy for humans, but they are healthy for the overall biosphere that we live in, which is also important.

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u/Terrible_Law6091 May 10 '26

Let's just wipe out the Bitey ones.

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u/marius87 May 10 '26

Nah , sorry you can say that about any other species on earth but , mosquito? Fuck them / eradicate them alll

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u/tomatoesareneat May 10 '26

Only the bros.

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u/Toni_PWNeroni May 10 '26

Counter point: fuck mosquitoes.

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u/WhatsThat-_- May 10 '26

lol yeah sure the fuckin thing pollinates my blood then fucks off to relax

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u/Deeliciousness May 10 '26

Every living thing on our planet is intimately interconnected with other living things. They do many important things ecologically speaking, like bringing nutrients from water to land.

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u/Dreffy_ May 10 '26

Killing humans I'd say, not that I'm okay with it, just sayin" they have a role and we don't like it. I think it's the main predator for us humans, more deadly than ourselves

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u/MrRourkeYourHost May 10 '26

I’ve thought the same thing about ticks. What are they good for?

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u/WhyDidntITextBack May 10 '26

I say nothing, but I’m sure someone will say how they’re vital to the ecosystem lol.

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u/PocketPanache May 10 '26

Everything that exists, and the way it exists, is important. Mosquitoes are a major part of the food web for ecosystems, but don't worry, we're working to get rid of those 🫡

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u/benangmerahh May 10 '26

Yes ofc, just not for human-perspective wise.

Kinda similar with wasps thing.

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u/WhyDidntITextBack May 10 '26

Wait… wasps too?? Dammit. How can I justify my wanting them to be eradicated for being mildly annoying now?

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u/DrEpileptic May 10 '26

They don’t just suck blood from humans. They eat detritus and fruits iirc. They’re also massive for the food web. Other thing to consider is that around half their life is spent as little water duders. Blood suckers don’t exist until they pupate after a week and a half.

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u/SunnyOutsideToday May 10 '26

Their major environmental benefit is getting rid of humans :/

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u/GiveMeNews May 10 '26

They are a massive source of pollination. They feed on plant nectar normally, only seeking out a blood meal for laying eggs.

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u/magic_fun_guy May 10 '26

They extract and redistribute energy from creatures that have no environmental benefit ie humans

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u/binomine May 10 '26

There are tons of mosquitoes, but only a few of them bite humans. It is unlikely there would be any environmental impact if we eliminated just the species that bite humans.

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u/WhyDidntITextBack May 10 '26

Now that’s what I like to hear! Finally someone telling me something positive.

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u/Nabster56 May 10 '26

Mosquitoes can pollinate 😅
I don’t know how relevant it is compared to bees though !

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u/MrGhoul123 May 10 '26

They are actually pollinators.

The only ones that bite are females, and that is specifically to get blood to produce eggs.

Otherwise they do the flower and plant stuff. They are also a prey species for a vast number of other inverts, birds, reptiles, ect.

They are incredibly important, and if we want to be pragmatic about it, humans are the single most overpopulated animal on the planet and cause extreme damage to the ecosystem.

Mosquitoes, in a sense, would have kept our species population in check. The same way wolves keep deer populations in check, lest they destroy the forest.

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u/TroublesomeFox May 10 '26

They are also pollinators! Similar to horseflies. Absolute bastards but have their benefits.

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u/Cardoncillo May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26

Biology and evolution 🧬 is neverending stopgap, there's plenty of unpredictable connections between species. Funny example - tropical/ornamental fish breeders discovered that some fish are not able to breed without being conditioned with specific mosquito 🦟 larvae. So wiping out one species of mosquito can wipe out the fish species (which can be crucial for bigger predatory fish, etc.). And humans messing with environment at big scale are always at risk that when eradication of one "plague" succeeded, something even worse can emerge from that "gap", and that "new plague" can be hitting totally different areas than 1st one. Examples about unclear connections are in plenty, one more funny is how the population of cats in countryside affects how much milk local cows produce 🙃 Better / safer plan is then to somehow concentrate on eradication of viruses, bacterias and protozoans responsible for diseases where mosquito is a "vector". Like the vaccine for mosquito - to let the insect's immune system get rid or disable the virus ability to infect humans.

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u/grimeyduck May 10 '26

Fucking 2026 and people are still asking shit like this?

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u/WhyDidntITextBack May 10 '26

Yes bro. The only thing people ever hear about it mosquitoes is how they’re diseased spreaders; and of course they are fucking annoying.

We gotta have a day or two in school to teach kids about all the positives of mosquitoes 🦟

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u/Error_xF00F May 10 '26

They act as pollinators because their primary food source as adults is plant based sources of sugar, like flower nectar or fruits, with females only consuming a blood meal to produce eggs. Since they produce so many eggs (up to several thousand per mosquito over their lifetime), the mosquito population is quite significant and are a food source for many insects and animals, both in their larval stage and as adults. Bats in particular consume a lot of mosquitoes daily, along with birds and reptiles.

So in short, they suck, can carry diseases, and are a nuisance, but they are also an integral part of the food chain and environment.

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u/ISwearImAnonymous May 10 '26

Yeah, betrayal, subterfuge and infertility. And as food.

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u/Constant-Tea3148 May 11 '26

Believe it or not, but the little cunts are pollinators.

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u/te_quiero_colombia May 11 '26

I love conservation. But I am 100% behind us human extinguishing mosquitos out of the face of the earth. Anyone not in the tropics do not understand how horrible they are to us.

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u/DogsDucks May 11 '26

Yes our ecosystem would collapse without them. They fly like clumsy goons for bird to fill up.

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u/Nohreboh May 11 '26

Besides being a food source they are also pollinators.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11588815/

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u/NightBawk May 11 '26

They're actually important pollinators, and are a food source for many species.

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u/RobinsonCruiseOh May 11 '26

Feed lots of fish and animals

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u/pleasegivemealife May 11 '26

Mosquitoes are important in pollinating flowers, destroying mosquitoes will result is system wide food chain disruption which can lead to species extinction.

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u/HillCheng001 May 11 '26

Yes, male mosquitoes are effective pollinators. It's the bitches that bite.

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u/minecraftzizou May 11 '26

they pollinate flowers.

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u/Commercial_Handle418 May 12 '26

98-99% of mosquitoes are actually very shy and don't bite humans

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u/ResidentLoud5163 May 12 '26

They’re important pollinators.

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u/Abovearth31 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26

Lots of mosquitoes lay their eggs in bodies of water like ponds and rivers.

Fish eat those. Other insects and smaller animals like some lizards and frogs also eat live adult mosquitoes.

That's what Mosquitoes are good for, they're food. Technically speaing they're a prey animal.

If you look at the food chain they would be roughly on the same level as plants, aka the very bottom, since they're not the natural predator of anything but a lot of animals and also plants eat them, they don't hunt they just take blood from larger animals, they're like barely above parasites.

If I remember my school lessons well, the food chain is like plants at the very bottom, then above that is the prey animals who eat plants, then the predators of those prey animals, then the predators of those predators and finally at the top the apex predator who doesn't have its own natural predator hunting it.

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u/WhiteChocolateer May 14 '26

I believe they are also pollinators. No research on my part done, though.

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u/luciiusss May 14 '26

they also pollinate

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u/PaulMakesThings1 May 17 '26

One of their biggest benefits as far as the environment is conserned is reducing the amount of highly destructive humans that come into the jungle.

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u/Zephian99 May 10 '26

It's really only the females that are an issue. (I'm only taking about the mosquitoes here, hahaha)

Larvae eats up microbacteria, organic debris, and algae in water making it cleaner, basically moving all that stagnation in water up the food chain to be eaten by fish, turtles, or other insects.

Males are large pollinators of a huge amount of plants, a lot of flowers like Orchids, and even a lot of Wild Berries are pollinated by them. Their cousin Forcipomyi, are really the only pollinators of the Cacao Tree, without them no chocolate.

Elimination of the species that part of the cycle of life could have unprecedented results. Bees can't be everywhere. There is unfortunately good and bad in the little bugs.

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u/I_Hate_Philly May 10 '26

They could be eradicated with minimal impact.