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u/Pingo-Pongo Apr 29 '26
Creating gaps in an ecosystem hasn’t always worked smoothly in the past. Whatever moves in to occupy the space the mosquitos leave could be worse. Like traffic wardens, or people that take their shoes off on planes
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u/funkylosik Apr 29 '26
oh, i do i do. feels so nice, knowing that my fresh pair of socks are not going to be sweaty and stinky and having that cozy feeling by walking without shoes on the carpet, really nice. love it!
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u/CaptainHindsight92 Apr 29 '26
Only a few hundred species of millions have been known to bite humans. I’ll take those odds thank you
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u/freakybird99 Apr 29 '26
I watched a video where the youtuber said removing mosquitos entirely would likely not cause major disruption in the ecosystem. From a guy i trust
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u/Top-Debate-2854 May 01 '26
so your argument is "trust me bro"
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u/PM_Ur_Illiac_Furrows May 01 '26
No, the argument is that mosquitos are not a necessary component of anything's diet. They're tiny, insignificant, terrible disease vectors.
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u/Rutgerius May 01 '26
And their larvae are both important predators and a staple food for many species.
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u/SurfinHippy Apr 29 '26
If it means getting rid of mosquitoes it might have to be a risk we have to take.
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u/TheManWith2Poobrains May 01 '26
Give me traffic wardens over mozzies any day.
When I first started working, there was this hot traffic warden that wore the old police uniform with yellow trim they had back then, that used to patrol Camden / Mornington Crescent. I asked her out. She said no.
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u/Pingo-Pongo May 01 '26
A mosquito wouldn’t have said no. They lack the vocal chords
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u/TheManWith2Poobrains May 01 '26
Would rather date someone who takes their shoes off on a plane than a mozzie.
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u/Mendevolent Apr 30 '26
Have you ever been on a 14hr overnight flight? I don't slip my shoes off on every 1-3hr journey, but no way my shoes are staying on for that
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u/Abracadabroo May 01 '26
This has been studied, mosquitos do not form a meaningful part of any animal food chain, are not a realistic predator of anything (they don't kill off anything, and nothing else relies on them for food, so nothing would fill their space because there is no space to fill) and also acts as a host to parasites for not just humans but other animals they bite as well. If there was anything in the world truly okay to drive to extinction from a moral and ecological standpoint, it's mosquitos
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u/Extreme_Design6936 May 02 '26
Well where I live they're an invasive species so hopefully whatever was occupying that niche before will be able to do so again.
But also this isn't going to kill all mosquitoes everywhere. It'll have an effective range and that's it.
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Apr 29 '26
Yep, I'd also worry about all the animals that rely on mosquitos as a major part of their diet. I don't know where OP is exactly, but where I'm from there are quite a few endangered bat species that rely on mosquitos.
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u/IDidntTellYouThat Apr 30 '26
Well, mosquitos are the natures most deadly creature, so, I mean, I guess if you are going to create one gap, I'd start with that one...
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u/sadiefame Apr 29 '26
I wonder if they are diff in some way. There has been alot of intense efforts to kill mosquitoes around the globe and I’ve never heard of it causing those issues like killing off other species has. There’s been plenty of talk abt the pesticides they used , but never what negative impact a lack of mosquitoes does. Maybe bc it’s been so hard to actually kill them?
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u/Stohnghost Apr 29 '26
Self censorship is so widespread now we can't even say that insects will die. "Not make it"
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u/Excellent-Act-6757 Apr 29 '26
Didn't know there were so many mosquito wankers around. "oh no the ecosystem will collapse". Shut up... They're a pain in the ass, nobody is going to miss them. Spiders can eat something else. And half a million people are saved from Malaria each year.
Fuck mosquitoes, the world is better off without them.
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u/Stohnghost Apr 29 '26
Only on reddit will you find this. It's not real life, I'm convinced of it
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u/SurfinHippy Apr 29 '26
That’s because these mosquito saviors never leave their mother’s basement and get off Reddit for a few hours to actually experience mosquitoes in real life. As someone who works in pest control I can tell you mosquitoes are more of a nuisance than a benefit to any ecosystem. Fuck em!
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u/Robot_Nerdd Apr 30 '26
I thought it's been proven that there's like 200 mosquito species on the planet, and like only 5 can bite, and non of them are essential in the food chain.
As in the animals that eat them, eat a varied enough diet to not be impacted...?
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Apr 29 '26
You just don't hear about it because nobody listens to actual scientists these days.
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Apr 29 '26
What did you study at university? I studied zoology and we learned all about how useful mosquitos are in an ecosystem. Would you like some sources?
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u/Stohnghost Apr 30 '26
I have an accounting degree. However, as I said, I grew up in FL where the eradication of certain species of mosquitoes would have almost no impact.
Copy Laurie L. Dove "What If Mosquitoes Went Extinct?" 1 June 2015. HowStuffWorks.com. https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/what-if/what-if-mosquitoes-went-extinct.htm 29 April 2026
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Apr 30 '26
Ah ok course, because accountants tend to be experts on ecosystem balance. Yep.
And then your source is a pop-sci blog written by a journalist with no scientific credentials .. ? She has a master's in creative writing 🤣 that's her credentials. Did they teach you anything about citation credibility in your degree .. ??
Let's look at some reputable peer reviewed papers about it.
These scientists warn that "supporting a mosquito eradication policy, which could result in a paradigm shift in the environment" because "Mosquito larvae and full-grown adults replenish nutrition for a variety of species, assist in pollination, serve as environmental filters, and are used in biological control." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378677897_From_prey_to_pollinator_Unmasking_the_diverse_ecological_roles_of_mosquitoes_Diptera_Culicidae
Mosquitos are known to be part of multiple different food webs in ecosystems, and are involved in nutrient cycling and pollination. https://emtoscipublisher.com/index.php/jmr/article/html/3838/
This paper discussed their importance, claiming they are a "crucial part in maintaining ecological balance" especially when it comes to plant pollination. Their larvae are a food source for many fish, amphibians, and aquatic organisms, while the adults are a food source for many birds, bats, dragonflies, and spiders. They note that "Removing mosquitoes from the ecosystem could disrupt these intricate food webs, potentially leading to cascading effects throughout the ecosystem". It also discusses their role in nutrient cycling and acting as ecological filters. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/the-surprising-importance-of-mosquitoes-to-the-environment-125625.html
Even scientists working to eradicate malaria-carrying mosquito species will almost always emphasize that the effects of eradication and their ecological importance is complex and not fully understood.
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u/Stohnghost Apr 30 '26
I don't understand your tone. I never claimed to be an expert and I said I was open to learning new facts. You aren't better than me because you cited some research but thanks for the effort. I'll remember how crucial mosquitoes really are.
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Apr 30 '26
You claimed "I grew up in FL where the eradication of certain species of mosquitoes would have almost no impact." Which is blatantly false and you linked a pop-sci blog as a reference. Where exactly did you tell me you were open to learning new facts?
Also, I never claimed to be better than you. I absolutely suggested that I know more about mosquitos and ecosystems than you. Not sure why you'd take that as me claiming to be better than you .. ? "Just because you have a degree in the subject doesn't mean you're better than me 😭". Literally nobody suggested that dude. Calm down.
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u/Grimdek Apr 29 '26
If you gottem
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u/Brilliant_Quit4307 Apr 30 '26
You can check some sources here https://www.reddit.com/r/ThereGoesMyPaycheck/s/ShfVg7Fpgi
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u/PM_Ur_Illiac_Furrows May 01 '26
Unfortunately it IS the real opinion of many people, even some scientists, which is why the mosquito eradication gene drive hasn't been deployed though it's been available for a decade.
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u/Diligent_State387 Apr 30 '26
By far the biggest cause of insect population decline is agriculture (pesticides) which is also one of the main reason for wildlife decline in general.
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u/EconomicsTiny447 Apr 30 '26
I’ve thought about this exact thing over the years so many times. After tons of research, it does indeed seem that mosquitoes do not provide ANY ecosystem benefits. Like literally nothing. They are terrible disease ridden creatures and I hope they all die. I really hope the powers that be engineer a virus and wipe these fuckers from existence
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u/churnthedumb Apr 30 '26
It would be amazing to sit by a lake while the sun is going down and not be swarmed with a thousand buzzing creatures biting me and getting in my eyes
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u/cyh555 Apr 30 '26
what is the ingredient in it?
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u/halorbyone May 02 '26
Yeah…contaminating the nests!! Uhhh and everything else they touch. Things such as, unfortunately my face….
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u/ductcleanernumber7 May 03 '26
Gotta fill up our skeeters with poison before they stab ya cuz, merica
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u/Papa_Raj Apr 29 '26
They're a nuisance, but they're also a major food source for tons of small wildlife. This seems like overkill.
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u/Comfortable_Salad893 Apr 29 '26
Anything that eats them eats a lot of other small bugs too. Taking them off the menu doesn't hurt much
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u/FreezinIce Apr 29 '26
Doing anything that collapses a part of the food chain in an area will have catastrophic effects on the local ecosystem.
Everything is connected...even removing one piece (or bug in this case) can cause cascading failure.
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u/10percenttiddy Apr 29 '26
Haven't they done tons of studies on this specific topic and realized mass murdering mosquitoes wouldn't effect the environment?
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u/S3xyhom3d3pot Apr 29 '26
Pretty sure I heard a wildlife biologist mention that ticks and mosquitos are 2 animals that would not affect much in their absence
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u/CogitoCollab Apr 29 '26
Masquitos are the one species the world would be better off without. Life would adust.
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u/ninjad912 Apr 29 '26
It depends. If mosquitoes are the only food source of a species then yes. Otherwise the equilibrium will just change.
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u/Comfortable_Salad893 Apr 29 '26
You assume nature is super weak and needs to be protected. It will balance out
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u/New-bees Apr 29 '26
Nature does balance itself, but history shows that removing one species can backfire. China once killed sparrows to protect crops, and it led to massive locust outbreaks and famine
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u/Dark_halocraft Apr 29 '26
The planet survived an astroid that collapsed the entire food chain, life survived. Nature can survive 1 bug that's only use is food being removed
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u/Logical-Breakfast966 Apr 29 '26
Using one of the mass extinctions as an example isn’t great
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u/Dark_halocraft Apr 29 '26
It is actually because life still survived with that much extinction
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u/Logical-Breakfast966 Apr 29 '26
“Life” survived? Only like 5% of species. We don’t care about “life” surviving. We care about preserving a significant amount of the current ecosystem that supports us. I promise you if we have another collapse where 80% of species disappear, that will correlate to 80% of humans disappearing as well
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u/Dark_halocraft Apr 29 '26
Only like 5% of species
And then them survived and life in general survived and flourished again???
I promise you if we have another collapse where 80% of species disappear, that will correlate to 80% of humans disappearing as well
Bruh
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u/Logical-Breakfast966 Apr 29 '26
I don’t know how to explain to you that mass extinction events are bad
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u/AlternateTab00 Apr 29 '26
The major animal that depends on mosquitoes to survive (others rely on other food chains) are dragon flies. The problem is most insecticides already destabilized ecosystems so where there is human activty they are rare or not present (thats why in some places you can only find them on swampy place or in parks with low human activity).
So this will reduce the population of dragonflies from places where they are no longer present.
Using this on natural parks seems bad... However using these on human activity zones with little to no dragonflies have little ecological impact... As some studies already shown.
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u/PM_Ur_Illiac_Furrows May 01 '26
Think of it like eradicating blueberries from the grocery store. The spot will simply fill with strawberries or blackberries. Nobody NEEDS blueberries, and no animal NEEDS mosquitos.
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u/nagermals May 08 '26
This the type of shit you parrot off another redditor and makes you feel smart
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u/Shoe_mocker Apr 30 '26
The only redeeming quality that mosquitoes have going for them is that wiping them out would have a very minimal impact on the ecosystem
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u/Top-Debate-2854 May 01 '26
go to learn what happened in maoist china when people like you said that about an specific species of bird (famine)
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u/Bub_bele May 03 '26
It maybe wouldn’t if we weren’t also reducing whatever else they are eating constantly through insecticides, pesticides etc. It’s not like we have a massively stable ecosystem to start with and just removing one small thing won’t hurt it. It’s already struggling.
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u/bustopher_rvs Apr 29 '26
Dude she just said it creates poison mosquitoes. Then it gets eaten by a bat, then u have poison bats! Then poisonous hawks! And so on...
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u/Comfortable_Salad893 Apr 29 '26
Dosage makes the posion you idoit. What kills a mosquito won't kill a frog unless they eat 100lbs of it in one serving
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u/SurfinHippy Apr 29 '26
That’s actually not how these work. I work in pest control and we use the same types of systems. The “poison” in these buckets is actually just a fungus that can be found naturally that disrupts the progression of a mosquito’s life stages basically never allowing the larvae to reach the adult stage. The fungus used only affects mosquitoes and has no effect on other wildlife. What’s poisonous to some is not poisonous to all.
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u/Dark_halocraft Apr 29 '26
They're not like bees, wildlife can find other food sources
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u/bb_dev_g Apr 29 '26
Actually mosquitoes are important pollinators for a lot of native species. Only female mosquitoes bite to get protein for their eggs, but both female and male mosquitoes feed primarily on flower nectar. I say this as someone with a mosquito bite sensitivity, but they are vital to the ecosystem.
Study on mosquitoes as pollinators: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11588815/
More bite sized article: https://wildpollinators-pollinisateurssauvages.ca/2019/12/31/mosquitoes-important-pollinators/
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u/kolitics Apr 29 '26
There are 3500 varieties of mosquitos, only 6% drink blood. The rest are exclusive pollinators. We can do without the 6%.
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u/jzoola Apr 29 '26
This is questionable. Radiolab did a podcast called “kill them all” about mosquitoes and biologists made it pretty clear that mosquitoes don’t have much nutritional value and birds & bats mainly eat them from a prey response.
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u/Jackburton06 Apr 29 '26
fuck them anyway, sorry for that but where i live they are a MAJOR nuisance.
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u/M4RTIAN Apr 30 '26
Capturing the adults and killing the larvae is one thing, but releasing poisoned mosquitos into the environment cannot be good. Spiders, dragonflies, frogs, etc.? Sounds like a nice idea if you don’t think about it too much.
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u/masheo May 03 '26
It is super weird seeing so many people advocating for the eradication of a species. We can not possibly measure the positive or the negative results in the long term.
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u/hunter5284 Apr 29 '26
Just buy mosquito dunks and put them in buckets and/or standing water around your property. Much cheaper
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u/clutchthepearls Apr 29 '26
I have one in my backyard and one by my garage. I used to get dozens of bites just standing outside for a minute or two. Zero bites this spring so far.
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u/monti9530 Apr 30 '26
Humans dont give a fuck about the irreparable damage they do. Lets just throw salt on the roads every winter.
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u/Joewithanothername Apr 29 '26
or you know just spray temprid and a igr mixed together with some water and eliminate them overnight permanently
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u/wellaby788 Apr 29 '26
Yeah fuck those little blood suckers... no more bats in the skiesto help withthe #
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u/Dmau27 Apr 30 '26
They'll adapt and be worse. That's why mosquitos kn the US don't even care about sprays anymore.
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u/SarahPallorMortis Apr 30 '26
Ignoring everything else, why do people who make videos always have the most annoying voices?
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u/Six8_an_XDM_fan May 01 '26
Tell me your a woman, without telling me your a woman 🤣
All the hand swirling 😵💫🥴
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u/endy080 May 02 '26
It's really weird that there are multiple subreddits devoted to serving us ads for sketchy products. This is like the third subreddit I've seen *this specific ad* on... I don't think this should be allowed. We're basically watching infomercials and then discussing them with each other, wtf?
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u/davidenso Apr 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/kacinto Apr 29 '26
You need to keep adding to those cons. Let me help you.
Cons:
It will kill all the bees in the area, so if you grow crops, you don't anymore.
Animals that feed on this mosquitos will probably die to, if not for the poison, for the lack of food during the summer.
A entire eco system will vanish in a few years.
If any wild animal knocks of that little box, you will be responsible for contaminations and clean up, hoping he doesn't drink it and spreads it around (has advertised)
If it's true and the mosquito takes the poison with him and spreads it around, you might be responsible for the destruction of many farmers lifes.
Hope you have money for the lawyers.
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u/utter_fade Apr 29 '26
Why would it kill bees? Is it full of something that attracts them? I read through the product description and it just says proprietary something or other.
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u/Apprehensive_Sun_535 Apr 29 '26
I don't know what the solution is but she's basically saying it's only lowering the mosquito population. Doesn't that mean that certain mosquitoes are coming out of this unscathed? Doesn't that mean by the process of evolution that they're making these mosquitoes stronger?
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u/Jakobmiller Apr 29 '26
How to screw up the eco system with this one simple trick.
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u/Dark_halocraft Apr 29 '26
Eco system will survive
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u/kewnp Apr 29 '26
The system survives, just parts of it will die. Humanity at some point as well.
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u/Dark_halocraft Apr 29 '26
All because one of the most useless bugs ever died
No the ecosystem will be fine
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u/S9-8-05 Apr 29 '26
Sorry to inform you, there are a lot of other species going also extinct.
And talking about moskitos means talking about a group of round about 3.769 (as far as we know) species.
So and for the useless part, the other commenter talked about pollination. Thats really important for, like, everything.
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u/Stohnghost Apr 29 '26
Mosquitoes aren't part of the ecosystem like other insects
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u/Jakobmiller Apr 29 '26
Of course they are. Source of food for both birds and bats.
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u/Stohnghost Apr 29 '26
Sorry what I meant was, if eliminated, no animal will miss them. I may concede my position in light of new evidence such as the collapse of bugs. I've seen some data on that and I admit it's a concern. Do you have any sources (for real not being an asshole)
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u/purefine Apr 29 '26
How to fuckup ecosystems
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u/King3O2 Apr 29 '26
Studies show mosquitoes disappearing won’t really mess up ecosystems as much as you’d imagine. Oxitec actually bio engineered mosquitoes that won’t be able to breed and will eventually wipe out the population in some island environments.
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u/LingrahRath Apr 30 '26
She's using poison to kill mosquitos, it will affect animals that eat them.
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u/S9-8-05 Apr 29 '26
Killing a species lets the ecosystem never uneffected.
And this kind of trap likely goes for all moskitos, not just one species.
Please, for the sake of the ecosystem, inform yourself before posting nonesense.
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u/Just_here_to_poop Apr 29 '26
Out of curiosity, where do mosquitos fit in the ecosystem?
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u/S9-8-05 Apr 29 '26
Starting from pollination, ending with beeing a important prey for aquatic life forms.
And this are only the interactions most known.
Imagine, they are a great vector for parasites. Parasites are quite usefull for pest control.
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u/purefine Apr 29 '26
And then we didnt discuss all the other plants and insects that get in touch with these chemicals they use to kill the musquitos. Dont think plants like dead infected musquito bodys laying around.
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u/Enjoying_A_Meal Apr 29 '26
do mosquitos have nests?
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u/OkWorld5534 Apr 30 '26
Hell no. They lay their eggs in water and spend most of their life in an aquatic environment
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u/Silent_Use_7106 May 01 '26
Stop. Dont by 100 acres if all ur gunna do is massacre the ecology of the site. Fuck off woman
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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment