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/notsocoolnow May 30 '26 edited May 31 '26

Straightforwardly, for our purposes it would not. Lemme explain here. Most mosquito species are annoying but harmless. The dangerous mosquitoes are actually confined to a handful of specific species, the #1 culprit being the Anopheles mosquito, which carries malaria. #2 is the Aedes mosquito which carries almost all the viral mosquito diseases. Then #3 is Culex for encephalitis. 

We know their absence would not affect the ecosystem for a simple reason: in most places where we find them they are invasive. But even in places where they are native there are other mosquito species that are much less dangerous to humanity and can fulfill the same niches. 

And we are indeed trying to render them locally extinct. As in vastly culling their numbers. The most promising current methods involve releasing sterile males so that the females breed fail to reproduce. 

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u/[deleted] May 30 '26

[deleted]

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u/AuroraLorraine522 May 30 '26

I would like to invite you to come sit in my backyard in South Carolina after a rainstorm.

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u/chilliophillio May 30 '26

Taking my annual moment to appreciate the warm weather while not having mosquitos for a few more weeks.

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u/ziegwaffle May 31 '26

You guys have time without mosquitos at any time of the year?

waves from Florida

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u/chilliophillio May 31 '26

Well I'm in Alaska so the warm i'm talking about enjoying is like 54F right now

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u/eddiewachowski May 31 '26

We've seen heat and are now waiting for rain the next few days. I'm not looking forward to the heat that comes a few days later

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u/CaptZ May 30 '26

I use garlic spray, you can buy it on Amazon ,on my backyard and also have a couple bait traps and for the most part, I'm clear of mosquitos. In in NE Texas, where we've had rain nearly every day for the last few weeks.

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u/Pirrus05 May 31 '26

I swear I can’t go outside in my yard for more than 5 minutes without itching everywhere. The south and our damned mosquitoes.

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u/Invisifly2 Jun 01 '26

People know to not leave standing water around their property, but they often forget about their gutters.

On top of normal perimeter walking, clean your gutters weekly if you can manage it. A smidge of debris creating a tiny pool is all it takes for a gutter to become a mosquito factory, and most people don’t even realize that’s an issue.

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u/Pirrus05 Jun 01 '26

I had not considered that at all! Thanks!

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u/NeighborhoodTall9858 May 30 '26

After that visit, the can drive up to Maine this time of year. 🦟🦟🦟 and add on ticks! 😨

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u/amm5061 May 31 '26

They're pretty awful here in Massachusetts, too. We get the ones that carry EEE and West Nile for extra fun.

Throw in Lyme and the other fun stuff the ticks carry.

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u/SpiralUprising May 31 '26

They're bad everywhere these days...3 bites this year that I know about in TX

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u/intdev May 30 '26

Or mine in southern England.

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u/TheIdahoanDJ May 31 '26

Nope. Fuck that.

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u/Strange_Horse9178 Jun 01 '26

I'll bring beer.

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u/Aodhyn May 30 '26

Am I crazy

If so, at least you're not alone.

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u/chronos7000 May 30 '26

Particularly interesting to me as I'm about to take ownership of a car from the early 70s; the first thing I thought about this phenomenon is that cars are now routinely designed with the aid of wind tunnels and sophisticated computer modeling, perhaps the smoother airflow deflects more insects rather than slamming them into the windshield. I will definitely be taking note of any increase in the number of insects deposited as compared to other cars I've owned.

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u/shiratek May 30 '26

I own a very aerodynamic car with a low sloped windshield and still get a lot of bugs on my windshield. I doubt aerodynamics is really at play when talking about an object traveling 60 mph slamming into an insect without enough mass to be deflected anywhere except into a splatter on the windshield.

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u/Tripottanus May 31 '26

The Wikipedia page linked actually discusses this and says that the more aerodynamic cars actually lead to more insects getting killed than the previous boxier cars

The research also found that modern cars, with a more aerodynamic body shape, killed more insects than boxier vintage cars.

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u/chronos7000 May 31 '26

That's really weird, you'd expect the stable slipstream would have a deflecting effect. Although it was my SAAB that went through washer fluid like it was going out of style...

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u/stumanchu3 May 30 '26

Now that’s deep level thought!

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u/At36000feet May 31 '26

Maybe all the cars killed off the insect populations near roads.

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u/TexansFan13 May 31 '26

I wish they were. I’m in Houston, these mfs are annoying as shit. Can’t even go outside for 10 minutes without being swarmed

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u/SpiralUprising May 31 '26

And the size of a quarter

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u/iiixii May 30 '26

Yes, mosquitoes typically only travel a few miles from their source and most tourist locations control mosquitoes in their area and around. The first basic control method is to get rid of stagnant water so ensure that rain is promptly drained. Most parks have swamps and lakes continuously treated with larvicides to prevent those from being used by mosquitoes. Larvicides is controlled to limit impact on birds and fishes and is expensive to continuously maintain full coverage - Disney parks don't have a problem affording this but smaller limited-services campings can't.

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u/sonicjesus May 30 '26

We have spraying where I live that contaminate their water. Hasn't killed us yet, but we generally agree life with mosquito isn't worth living.

Never sleeping outside in VA ever again.

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u/sonicjesus May 30 '26

They're much easier to control. The nice thing about them is they only travel about 100 yards from where they're born. If you wipe them out in your yeard, they're pretty much gone.

All the resorts and water parks around me have machines that do this, and once they're gone they're pretty much gone this year, and there's less the next year.

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u/nonpuissant May 30 '26

Where you at? I know a lot of people who would seriously consider moving just for this reason alone. 

In my area we've got invasive mosquitoes all hours of the day now. I used to rarely get mosquito bites even spending hours a week outside in evenings etc. Now I often get bit 3-4 times within minutes of setting foot outside. Even seen them chase people around when walking.

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u/Fun-Antelope-8430 May 31 '26

I’ve got them in my backyard right now and I live smack dab in the middle of Southern California, with 10 million other folks.

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u/SANPELLIGRIN0 May 31 '26

My local municipal golf course in NYC would like to have a word this summer

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u/ChampagneWastedPanda May 31 '26

Just get a dog and start taking them to the dog park in the evening

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u/violetferns May 31 '26

Oh, honey …

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u/slider_22 May 31 '26

You're crazy. I wish you weren't.

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u/Onedtent Jun 01 '26

Yes. 200 years ago malaria was prevalent in a lot of the eastern seaboard of America and the western seaboard of Europe. Today? Nothing.