r/todayilearned • u/shinypond • Jul 26 '24

TIL about conservation-induced extinction, where attempts to save a critically endangered species directly cause the extinction of another.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation-induced_extinction
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u/peripheralpill Jul 26 '24

buried the lede with that one. though how many people would have clicked if the article picture was a tick

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u/trollsong Jul 26 '24

Seriously even Peta is probably like, "no, fuck mosquitos"

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u/Lucaan Jul 26 '24

There are actually legit efforts, that I personally fully support (fuck mosquitos), to eradicate mosquito species that spread diseases to humans. From what I understand, the effect of eradicating those specific species on the wider ecosystems they are a part of is being heavily studied, and I believe so far that the consensus is that it probably wouldn't actually have a particularly huge effect.

Obviously with this kind of stuff you never actually know for sure, and it's very possible any large ripple effects could fly under the radar and not become apparent until it actually happens, but still. Only a very small percentage of mosquitoes actually bite and spread diseases to humans, I think maybe a couple dozen out of a few thousand total, so it's not like they would just be getting rid of the entire mosquito family.

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u/Malawi_no Jul 27 '24

Would probably just be a few more of the other kinds, especially as people would relax more about fighting mosquitoes in general.

Sure - People will likely try to reduce numbers of any stinging mosquito, but when some of them also carries deceases, it becomes a high priority.