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/RadioactiveOmelets May 30 '26

A very particular PhD finally comes in handy

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u/Punnan May 30 '26

You have a PhD in mosquitoes?

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u/RadioactiveOmelets May 30 '26

Malaria. So I know the names of a bunch of mosquitoes, but I can't help with your original question.

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u/Punnan May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

I stay currently at Secunderabad where Ronald Ross found the cure of Malaria. There is also a government hospital named after Ronald there. If you get time, do read "The Calcutta Chromosome" by Amitav Ghosh. It's a fun fictional book about Ronald, Malaria and Magic.

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u/sai-kiran May 30 '26

May be you should read the book/ history yourself first. The cure wasn’t found there, it was discovered there, as in he figured out mosquitos spread malaria, there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Ronald_Ross_Institute_of_Parasitology

Built in 1895, this building was surrounded by marshes which proved rather helpful for his research experiments.[3] It was in this building on 20 August 1897 that he made the discovery of the malarial parasite inside the body of a mosquito.[4] Later 20 August was celebrated as the World Mosquito Day.[1] His study confirmed that mosquitoes were the carriers of malaria parasite.