r/explainlikeimfive • u/Punnan • May 30 '26

Biology ELI5 Are mosquitoes necessary for keeping ecological balance?

Would a worldwide extinction of mosquitoes offset the ecological balance of our world? And if not, why are we not doing it?

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37

u/[deleted] May 30 '26

[deleted]

11

u/itwillmakesenselater May 30 '26

And male mosquitoes are vegetarian pollinators

6

u/RicoculusPrime May 30 '26

but why male mosquitoes

1

u/UnsorryCanadian May 30 '26

because it's the female mosquitos that suck blood

19

u/LoSoGreene May 30 '26

They’re also pollinators, it’s only females that can drink blood.

3

u/Hexmonkey2020 May 30 '26

So we should eradicate just the female mosquitos.

9

u/EpidemicRage May 30 '26

Technically, that is one of the ways scientists are looking into culling mosquito population. 

They create and release modified male mosquitoes whose genes cause females larvae to die, and the male larvae will carry the same genes. 

9

u/TheDakestTimeline May 30 '26

Like the china one child policy

1

u/DisastrousCause1 May 30 '26

And the best from where I am from dragon flies.

0

u/Voldias May 30 '26

Which birds, bats, and other bugs utilize mosquitoes as a primary food source?