To Keep the Mosquito or to Not

The natural order of an ecosystem is a very fragile thing. If one element of an ecosystem is taken away, there is a very strong chance a domino effect will ensue and things will become unbalanced. Say an organism is removed from an ecosystem, what would happen to the organisms it preys on? What would happen to those that prey on it? There are multiple consequences that could ensue from such a drastic change. But is there a type of organism that we could get rid of without consequence? What would happen if an annoying pest of an animal was removed, one that spreads disease and causes death worldwide. An animal so annoying to us humans and animals alike that it could only be one thing…a mosquito. Would it be good or bad to get rid of them for good?

At first thought it seems that getting rid of an organism entirely seems like a bad idea, and there is some logical theory to that. On a very basic level, an ecosystem is made up of producers and consumers. Even animals that seem useless often serve an important purpose to other parts of the ecosystem. Especially something as numerous as mosquitos; “There are 3,500 named species of mosquito, of which only a couple of hundred bite or bother humans. They live on almost every continent and habitat, and serve important functions in numerous ecosystems.”(nature.com) As Earth and its ecosystems have evolved so have mosquitos, oftentimes playing a large role in some places. “Wiping out a species of mosquito could leave a predator without prey, or a plant without a pollinator.” (nature.com) Which brings us back to the producers (the plant) and consumers (the predator) being affected. After reading all this is seems that taking any organism out of an ecosystem completely would be a bad idea right? But speaking specifically about those annoying mosquitos, it may just be a good thing.

A solid argument that supports removing mosquitos from all ecosystems is that they do not necessarily fill a specific niche. If the population of mosquitos diminished there would be ample amounts of other insects to fill their places. Take for instance bats; mosquitoes are an easy source of food for these predators. But they could just as easily adapt to eating moths instead of mosquitos. “Most would ultimately adapt to other prey and life would go on — without mosquito-borne diseases.”(science.howstuffworks.com) With the mosquitos not filling a specific role for most other animals in the ecosystem, it would not be detrimental to see them vanish from the natural food chain. “Yet in many cases, scientists acknowledge that the ecological scar left by a missing mosquito would heal quickly as the niche was filled by other organisms. Life would continue as before — or even better.”(nature.com)

Another benefit of ridding the world of the mosquitos is the amount of death it would prevent. Mosquitos infect mass amounts of people per year with malaria. Up to 240 million people per year become sick from the sick, with 1 million dying as a result. I believe that perhaps a slight disturbance in the food chain is worth preventing illness in hundreds of millions of people and saving another million from death. Malaria is not nearly as much of a problem in the United States as it is in countries like Africa, but imagine if you were faced with the possibility of death with every bite from a single mosquito. I think your opinion may change on whether or not they should be rid from Earth.

Something that is brought into play often in science is ethics. Is it ethical for us to decide what species lives and dies? Are we at liberty to decide if an entire race of an organism should be eradicated or not? Again, when we look at the possibility in saving millions of lives, it does seem more practical and possibly even necessary.

So before you think that removing mosquitos would open a detrimental hole in many ecosystems, I encourage you to weigh the options. This hole quite possibly can be easily replaced with other insects and life could carry on without a hitch, and the world would be rid of a fatal disease. Or we can let malaria run rampant as more and more people contract the illness. Altering the ecosystem is no joke, but this time it may just be necessary.mosquito