Putting aside questions of ecosystems etc, I think the main reason is that we just can’t - ironic since we seem to be extint-ing all the other animals
In South America they tried in the 50s and 60s, and more kept cropping up. They breed so quickly, if you miss an area they can just rebound. Then more can come in on ships and stuff
So you couldn’t really localise it, it would have to be a huge global undertaking. And it would likely require widespread use of pesticides that are at best tricksy and at worst illegal, not to mention environmentally shitty
Most modern plans for eradication involve creating a virus that handles it, rather than a pesticide.
Have the virus introduce a gene that takes a few generations of breeding in the impacted population before it starts to debilitate or sterilize the mosquitoes. That way your virus can start to kill the population even as it spreads to areas that were missed.
Eradication is really hard. If you just kill mosquitoes in a certain area, what’s gonna stop them from coming back? You’re just not gonna get all of them.
This way you introduce a mutation that can actually propagate through the gene pool, disabling the undesired trait for future generations. It’s also highly selective, so that you don’t accidentally get rid of other species or poison an area with pesticides.
Also living beings have no “purpose”. They fill an evolutionary niche and shape the ecological system around them. The piss off us, so we play a little god, but nature has no opinions or morals whatsoever.
Why not just eradicate them? Genuine question. I don’t think they serve any purpose in nature and are just pissing off every living being.
Putting aside questions of ecosystems etc, I think the main reason is that we just can’t - ironic since we seem to be extint-ing all the other animals
In South America they tried in the 50s and 60s, and more kept cropping up. They breed so quickly, if you miss an area they can just rebound. Then more can come in on ships and stuff
So you couldn’t really localise it, it would have to be a huge global undertaking. And it would likely require widespread use of pesticides that are at best tricksy and at worst illegal, not to mention environmentally shitty
Most modern plans for eradication involve creating a virus that handles it, rather than a pesticide.
Have the virus introduce a gene that takes a few generations of breeding in the impacted population before it starts to debilitate or sterilize the mosquitoes. That way your virus can start to kill the population even as it spreads to areas that were missed.
Eradication is really hard. If you just kill mosquitoes in a certain area, what’s gonna stop them from coming back? You’re just not gonna get all of them.
This way you introduce a mutation that can actually propagate through the gene pool, disabling the undesired trait for future generations. It’s also highly selective, so that you don’t accidentally get rid of other species or poison an area with pesticides.
Also living beings have no “purpose”. They fill an evolutionary niche and shape the ecological system around them. The piss off us, so we play a little god, but nature has no opinions or morals whatsoever.
They absolutely serve purpose in nature, they are a significant food source for bats and many other insects and males are pollinators.