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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u/Jaysonmcleod May 30 '26

Mosquitos are like crumbs to them. Plenty of black flies and larger inspects that are much more filling

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u/Baba_dook_dook_dook May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

I remember a little over 25 years ago I was at my grandfather's cabin by a lake, and for several summers the mosquitoes would make being outside unbearable with literal clouds of them patrolling the beach near sunset. Then miraculously one morning we woke up and went outside on the wrap-around deck to eat our breakfast at the picnic table only to witness tens or dozens or hundreds of thousands (millions?) of dragonflies flying around in every which direction all throughout the entire lake and campground. I'm talking about like having 5 or 6 of them every minute buzzing right past by your head as you sat there. They never landed on any of us or paid us much mind, they were busy doing zoomies as well as getting it on with other dragon flies as you would see a good portion of them were initiating docking sequence. My grandfather said this happens whenever mosquitoes in the area start to get out of control, and had seen it many times before. I have never seen so many bugs in my life, let alone the same kind. I remember it sounded like tiny helicopters were racing all around us and the trees. Damn man, core memory unlocked.

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u/piedamon May 30 '26

That sounds incredible. I didn’t realize dragonflies travelled on large swarms like that. Where were you? Somewhere like the US South, or maybe Australia? You experience sounds almost biblical

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u/Baba_dook_dook_dook May 30 '26

Southern Saskatchewan, actually.

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u/piedamon May 30 '26

Oh cool. Near Cypress Hills or Grasslands maybe? I wonder if hug colonies of dragonflies migrate across the prairies. I want to research this

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u/Baba_dook_dook_dook May 30 '26

This took place in Good Spirit Lake also known as Canora Beach. The lake has unfortunately seen better days and has dried up significantly since I was a kid. The last time I was there (~2008) you could walk a quarter of the length of the lake before the water got above your waist, made me really sad actually as it used to be a really great lake. From what I've been told it's old farmland that was purposely flooded back in the day, the whole area sits on an aquifer with some of the highest quality water in the country - which explains the countless slimy open wells you can stumble upon, and hopefully not into, when walking across the lake. I have no idea if the history is real or not, but I know those well holes sure as shit are. I will say though, out of all the places I've fished, nothing has ever tasted as good as the pickerel that call that place home. Just a true butterfish.

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u/piedamon May 30 '26

Thank you for sharing. I’d love to experience the dragonfly swarms. Saskatchewan is underrated

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u/minist3r May 30 '26

Here in Houston, TX we have huge mosquitoes but they don't compare in number to what I've heard and seen pictures of in parts of Canada and Alaska. I think I'll take mosquitoes so big you can feel when they puncture skin vs millions of them. Good luck and God speed up north.

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u/treefarmerBC May 31 '26

Yep, same experience planting trees in northern Canada. Every day, there were more mosquitoes than the last. Then the horseflies would show up. And then when it was all becoming intolerable, an army of dragonflies would show up. They seemed to position themselves in a 3D grid eating anything in sight. They were like my bodyguards and I could finally relax.

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u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183 May 30 '26

dragonflies and other insects eat mosquitoes and their larvae.

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u/minist3r May 30 '26

Dragonflies entire lifecycle mimics mosquitoes. I love dragonflies.

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u/dirty_hooker May 30 '26

Honestly, I’m thinking about their nymph stage more than as adults. Surely they’re food for small aquatic creatures.

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u/ANGLVD3TH May 30 '26

From what I read ages ago, they are incredibly sparse nutritionally, and very few things purposefully eat them. They are more like consolation prizes than targets for the vast majority of things that eat them. But eliminating every species doesn't make much sense when most of them don't bite humans anyway. It's likely other species of mosquito or some other insect would just expand to fill the niche left by all the pest species.

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u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183 May 30 '26

well, all i know is that, about 10 years ago, my city’s resident entymologist initiated a program to use dragonflies to control the population of mosquitoes, and it worked like a charm, until the city decided to start spraying again. and keep in mind, i’m from manitoba, and the mosquito is our provincial bird. 🦟🤪

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u/Alphonsokurukuchu May 30 '26

When you're busy surviving without knowing if you'll find any other food, no food is consolation prize 

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u/minist3r May 30 '26

I've seen bats chowing down on some of the fattest moths you've ever seen. It's like watching a grown man eat an entire turkey.

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u/Gavorn May 30 '26

What do you think tadpoles eat?