Comment by corodra
8 years ago
Male mosquitoes pollinate many plants that keep ecosystems in balance. Plants that bees normally don't pollinate.
Plus they are a food source for many other animals, including birds.
In Florida, the state uses university researchers to try estimating populations of mosquitoes that can keep ecosystems mostly in balance, along with prevent too much outbreak in disease. Hell, a lot of the state workers are uni grads that deal with mosquito populations. Since the 90s, they've been doing pretty well with all the research gathered since the 1920s.
In this case, I bet we're going to get something similar to Mao's great ecological experiment with eradicating sparrows and whatever the other pests were. Not as severe. But, in a few years, "Yea, that was really stupid".
Humans have a very good history of fucking up ecosystems. We think "we know better" or "I have this great idea!" or even "I have this totally under control". No. We don't. We're morons when it comes to controlling ecosystems. I also find "I don't see how this can go wrong" to be a fault in logic. Just because YOU can't figure out how something can go wrong, doesn't mean it will not go wrong. Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the mouth.
Nobody is trying to eliminate all mosquitoes. Just a tiny fraction of mosquito species.
And infecting one species with a bacteria that alter's their reproductive system could never transfer to animals that consumes them?
Before reinventing the wheel, why not look at Florida's century long research into controlling mosquito transmitted diseases? All the failures and successes. The chemicals used only affect certain hormones that occur in mosquito life cycles and have not been found in other critters. Even with that, they use it as sparingly as possible. Only if larva and pupa populations are in excess of normal levels. "Outbreaks" are considered in the single digits in a week's span. And when they do occur, they're dealt with swiftly.
Just because you can't see the domino at the end of the line, doesn't mean it won't fall. I have no faith in silicon valley corporations. They've built themselves up on the platform that "We know best". What's worse, they believe their own bullshit.
>And infecting one species with a bacteria that alter's their reproductive system could never transfer to animals that consumes them?
...No.
> Wolbachia is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria that infects arthropod species, including a high proportion of insects, but also some nematodes. It is one of the world's most common parasitic microbes and is possibly the most common reproductive parasite in the biosphere.
>In early 2016, the [Eliminate Dengue] team discovered that the presence of Wolbachia bacteria in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes also inhibits replication of the Zika virus, in addition to dengue and chikungunya viruses. Since then, the World Health Organization (WHO) held an emergency session of the Vector Control Advisory Committee on developing a response to the Zika epidemic. At the session, WHO recommended that the Eliminate Dengue program proceed with pilot deployment of its Wolbachia strategy to build capacity to support operational use.
This is a well understood and widely regarded as safe method of dealing with mosquitos.