"...just slay them all"

[Pappa]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to donate more mosquito nets and repellent to badly affected countries?

Actually, I read recently that a large number of mosquito nets go to waste because people use them for all sorts of other things; fishing nets, hammocks, etc. Just donating more nets on it's own doesn't necessarily work.

[Animavore]

I'm pretty sure the mosquitoes are kind of important to the ecosystem. Although it's kind of amusing to see somebody go "fuck it, the Malaria parasite's too hard to kill -- let's get the buggers who are moving them around."

Wouldn't it be cheaper to donate more mosquito nets and repellent to badly affected countries?

The skeeters are filling a niche. If we kill them off, something else will fill that niche. And it probably won't suck our blood.

Maybe the creationists could fill in the niche.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

But just think -- if we wipe out malaria, biology teachers all over the world will lose their favourite example of a deleterous recessive with positive effects when heterozygous! Are we willing to make that sacrifice?

Next you'll want to kill those little moths that can have pale or dark wings.

They were dirty little moths anyway.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to donate more mosquito nets and repellent to badly affected countries?

Actually, I read recently that a large number of mosquito nets go to waste because people use them for all sorts of other things; fishing nets, hammocks, etc. Just donating more nets on it's own doesn't necessarily work.

There is a project going to make child-sized mosquito beds and send them to places where they're needed. They're about the size of a pet carrier and rather useless for anything else, so they're more likely to be used for the intended purpose.

Of course, godless atheists around the world are trying to stop this effort! Why? Because, that's why, just because. Now, let us pray.

[ScholasticSpastic]

This is the species which is most likely responsible for very nearly killing my parents and leaving them, years afterward, with such symptoms as chronic pain and muscle atrophy. It's the Western Tree Hole Mosquito, or Ochlerotatus sierrensis:


Even so, for all that mosquitos have very nearly taken my parents from me and have killed outright hundreds of millions of people, I cannot, as a Biologist, condone their extermination. These beautiful specialists are primary food sources for a great many species of birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians, arachnids, insects, and even some mammals. The damage we would do by eradicating them could be incalculable.

In this case I believe we should leave the vector alone and see to fortifying the primary host by means of vaccination or attacking the pathogen itself.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

In this case I believe we should leave the vector alone and see to fortifying the primary host by means of vaccination or attacking the pathogen itself.

I'd kill them all in a heartbeat. However, the lasers would only kill those in the area. So if the little blood suckers stuck to the wilderness they would be just fine.

[Animavore]

I think we should round them all up and shuffle them in to gas chambers.

[ScholasticSpastic]

In this case I believe we should leave the vector alone and see to fortifying the primary host by means of vaccination or attacking the pathogen itself.

I'd kill them all in a heartbeat. However, the lasers would only kill those in the area. So if the little blood suckers stuck to the wilderness they would be just fine.

Urban eradication would result in drastically reduced predator populations as well, meaning we could expect to see fewer insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and spiders in our green spaces. There are also many plant species which rely on mosquitoes and would become less wide-spread after mosquito eradication (mosquitoes are nectar feeders- only breeding females sup on blood- and are essential pollenators for some plant species). For me, urban mosquito eradication would tear some of the vital heart out of our green spaces, giving them all the charm of a golf course.

I always support efforts to incorporate organisms into our cities before resorting to their removal. There is no reason that human population centers must equate to decreased biodiversity. The way we currently work cities and suburbs is dysfunctional and in need of dramatic reconfiguration.

Recall that early settlers went about clearing trees to excess because they (foolishly) believed trees to be a source of airborne pollutants. Now we know better. The closer to nature we can live, the happier we tend to be. This is not a statement of Luddite predilection, rather an acknowledgement that technology alone is not enough to make us happy and that our global impact could be much less than we currently observe without dispensing with any of the benefits of our technologies.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I don't like the little bastards. Sorry, they gotta go.

[ScholasticSpastic]

I don't like the little bastards. Sorry, they gotta go.

Do you fish? If so, those little bastards are primay supporters for a source of joy in your life. Mosquitoes are foundational for many of our favorite multicellular extensions of the food web. Mosquito populations indirectely impact the success of even keystone species such as bears, wolves and predatory birds. Eliminating mosquitoes, even locally, is a bad thing.

It's the irritation of the bite which annoys most of us- the actual extraction of our blood is painless and harmless. It'd be more desirable to find ways to live with or eradicate the blood-borne pathogens mosquitoes carry and to provide treatment for histamine reaction to mosquito saliva in areas of dense mosquito populations. The benefits of a local mosquito population can be enormous.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I don't like the little bastards. Sorry, they gotta go.

Do you fish?

I've hated fish ever since one decided to dine on me. :pissed: