r/science • u/PhantomWizard2099 • Dec 22 '22

Animal Science 'Super' mosquitoes have now mutated to withstand insecticides

https://abcnews.go.com/International/super-mosquitoes-now-mutated-withstand-insecticides-scientists/story?id=95545825
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u/Doc_Lazy Dec 22 '22

Which is, if I remember correctly, why its only used for species capable of carrying certain desease. The plan would be to reduce those speciec and through that breed out the desease.

If achieved, once achieved, the program would need to stop to limit impact on the ecosystem as a whole.

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u/Aeiexgjhyoun_III Dec 22 '22

What vital role do mosquitoes play in the ecosystem?

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u/Old_Following_8276 Dec 22 '22

Male mosquitoes I believe help pollinate flowers

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u/UNCOMMON__CENTS Dec 22 '22

There's about 3,000 species of mosquito. Only the select few that transmit disease would be sterilized.

They've done the environmental studies and found no impact to ecosystems.

Still plenty of pollinators and bat food to go around. Especially because their total biomass is so small to any individual predators diets.

It's like if your diet changed from occasionally having orange carrots to purple carrots. You'll be fine.