one species must die, and you choose what dies. what will it be?

[Marios]

Dead bodies

[Ad Bot]

[Frequency]

and we need bats for their sweet, sweet bat guano

that's some good stuff right there

[77x5ghost2]

feminational socialists

[WaterOre]

Can I go a bit further and take out the entire Plasmodium genus?

[Rad]

blacks

[Heitmeyer²]

probably mosquitoes

[sir dooble]

it's really the only species that I hate with a passion, and since they don't really serve any ecological role (they don't eat other organisms, just leech off them), they're would be no consequences

An organism doesn't have to be a predator to have an impact on the food-chain.
If the organism is itself eaten by other creatures, then it disappearing may have an affect on that predators population, and in turn have a knock-on effect on any other predators/prey of the declining population.


There are several species which consume mosquitos, either as a small part of their normal diet, or as a large part.
Bats are known to eat mosquitos, but so are several bird species (purple martins, swallows and waterfowl), as well as fish (goldfish, guppies, catfish, and notably the mosquito fish all prey on mosquito larvae), and insects (such as dragonflies and damselflies).

Mosquitos also pollinate flowers. Only female mosquitos feed on blood, so for the adult males the majority of their diet comes from nectar from flowers, and in gathering it they pollinate them.

[Biostorm]

sea bears

why?

i would choose some species of bacteria or protozoa that's deadly, maybe e.coli or malaria. why get rid of an insect species that spreads a deadly disease when you could get rid of the disease itself?

[Siren]

An organism doesn't have to be a predator to have an impact on the food-chain.
If the organism is itself eaten by other creatures, then it disappearing may have an affect on that predators population, and in turn have a knock-on effect on any other predators/prey of the declining population.


There are several species which consume mosquitos, either as a small part of their normal diet, or as a large part.
Bats are known to eat mosquitos, but so are several bird species (purple martins, swallows and waterfowl), as well as fish (goldfish, guppies, catfish, and notably the mosquito fish all prey on mosquito larvae), and insects (such as dragonflies and damselflies).

Mosquitos also pollinate flowers. Only female mosquitos feed on blood, so for the adult males the majority of their diet comes from nectar from flowers, and in gathering it they pollinate them.

I'm pretty sure that if mosquitos died off there would be something that could replace it in the chain without any major ecological disaster

[Steve5451²]

i just lost all respect i've ever had for you. you're a monster and i hate you

[Siren]

why?

i would choose some species of bacteria or protozoa that's deadly, maybe e.coli or malaria. why get rid of an insect species that spreads a deadly disease when you could get rid of the disease itself?

if it spreads more than one disease you are being less efficient

[sir dooble]

I'm pretty sure that if mosquitos died off there would be something that could replace it in the chain without any major ecological disaster

In several foodchains, perhaps. But consider that there are mosquitos in lots and lots of places, and part of many different complex foodchains. It's entirely possible, if not probable, that eradicating all mosquitos (which technically wouldn't be just one single species, as mosquitos are a family taxon) would result in one or more ecological disasters.

[Nonnel]

i vote we remove the suborder of nematocera which includes pretty much every insect that likes to fly right in front of your face

[Siren]

In several foodchains, perhaps. But consider that there are mosquitos in lots and lots of places, and part of many different complex foodchains. It's entirely possible, if not probable, that eradicating all mosquitos (which technically wouldn't be just one single species, as mosquitos are a family taxon) would result in one or more ecological disasters.

using this info I got from 2 seconds of research

I would say getting rid of a single species is still a good thing to do.

[Lego lad]

why are we putting so much effort into saving pandas when we've killed off some other species no problem?
is it just because they're cute?

they know kung fu