Fang, J. 2010. A world without mosquitoes. Nature 466: 432-434. doi:10.1038/466432a
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html
In summary, the article “A world without mosquitoes” essentially explains the one major downfall of having mosquitoes around as well as the many consequences that would arise if they were not around. Of course the world would be a much healthier place if the major disease vectors were eliminated, but in contrast mosquitoes are prey to many predators, are predators to various organisms, pollinate numerous plants, and form important symbiotic relationships with several organisms.
The ecology article is naïve, extremely biased, and goes against well understood guidelines of conservation biology. The article is extremely biased not only because we overestimate the abundance of mosquitoes due to their selective attraction to us but we can’t help but view the negative effects of their existence because of what they are doing to the human race. According to years of experimental study, to alter one organism’s abundance is to alter many other organisms’ chance of persistence, and only when populations are severely endangered and extensive research has been carried out are these measures ever taken. It is out of our ignorance to say that mosquitoes are useless in this world. As Aldo Leopold once said, “if the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not”. So, why sacrifice many species’ persistence for the security of one species when that one species population size is far from being threatened? In addition, aren’t enough species going extinct because of our influence, and are we the culprit for their ever growing population size? Why eradicate more species for an insufficient reason? The biggest consequence of not eliminating mosquitoes is simply that there would be too many humans to exploit the already depleted natural resources of this world. The costs of an increased population would far outweigh the benefits of a healthy population. So, we can now look at mosquitoes as organisms that keep the human population in check.
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html
In summary, the article “A world without mosquitoes” essentially explains the one major downfall of having mosquitoes around as well as the many consequences that would arise if they were not around. Of course the world would be a much healthier place if the major disease vectors were eliminated, but in contrast mosquitoes are prey to many predators, are predators to various organisms, pollinate numerous plants, and form important symbiotic relationships with several organisms.
The ecology article is naïve, extremely biased, and goes against well understood guidelines of conservation biology. The article is extremely biased not only because we overestimate the abundance of mosquitoes due to their selective attraction to us but we can’t help but view the negative effects of their existence because of what they are doing to the human race. According to years of experimental study, to alter one organism’s abundance is to alter many other organisms’ chance of persistence, and only when populations are severely endangered and extensive research has been carried out are these measures ever taken. It is out of our ignorance to say that mosquitoes are useless in this world. As Aldo Leopold once said, “if the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not”. So, why sacrifice many species’ persistence for the security of one species when that one species population size is far from being threatened? In addition, aren’t enough species going extinct because of our influence, and are we the culprit for their ever growing population size? Why eradicate more species for an insufficient reason? The biggest consequence of not eliminating mosquitoes is simply that there would be too many humans to exploit the already depleted natural resources of this world. The costs of an increased population would far outweigh the benefits of a healthy population. So, we can now look at mosquitoes as organisms that keep the human population in check.
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