Technology for Pets & Animals

What Happens If Mosquitos Go Extinct?

“Mosquito bite” by James Jordan is licensed with CC BY-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

By: Kevin Le, Reporter

Mosquitos

As summer starts to roll by with its beach hat, mosquitos have slowly come out with it. These pesky little bugs suck your blood and give you a hard time, so have you ever thought about killing every single one of them?

The Food Web

Mosquitoes act as a key food supply for fish, birds, lizards, frogs, bats, and more. Still, no species depends entirely on them, says the journal Nature found in 2010. different insects could live in their place, and it seems that most species would find alternatives to eat. While mosquitoes help pollinate thousands of plants in different areas, Janet McAllister, an entomologist with the Centers for Disease Control, told Nature that mosquito pollination isn’t critical to any plants humans rely on.

Should We Still Kill All Mosquitos?

Although mosquitos are annoying and carry many bacteria and viruses, only 6 of the 3000 species bite. The mosquitos that don’t bite help pollinate plants and are still important in an animal’s diet, even if that animal could eat other bugs. In my opinion, if we could kill all mosquitos on earth, we should only kill the 6 species of mosquitos that bite.

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.”

-Dalai Lama