Elimination of The Mosquito Species
Elimination of The Mosquito Species
1- John
Elimination of Anopheles and Aedes mosquito would only reduce 1 percent of the genetic diversity in the mosquito population which is not really a big deal to me. Mosquito disease carriers have always had big impacts in poor tropical places such as Africa, Asia and South America. Malaria which is a disease spread by the anopheles mosquito is responsible for 409,000 deaths in 2019. Most of those people affected were in young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty in these areas can promote the spread of malaria due to the fact that they don’t have the resources to combat its effect. Malaria can also cause poverty to rise up by blocking the economic growth, research shows that it can impact some affected nations GDP by as much as 5-6 percent each year. Dengue on the other hand is common to more 100 countries and has mostly affected Asia with 70 percent prevalence estimated. Each year more than 400 million people are affected with dengue and 22,000 people die from severe dengue fever. Both of these diseases also affect south America and have the same consequences. Getting rid of these killer mosquitos will greatly help lower poverty rates in Africa, Asia and south America. It will also help bring the much-needed economic growth for the affected countries. And Lastly It will save Millions of people!
I personally had dengue in the Philippines when I was 10 years old. It was always hard to get rid of places where mosquitos lay their eggs because of how much it rained over there. Mosquitos were just everywhere and hard to get rid of. I remember ever year in our school someone would get dengue fever and we would have taken a week off for them to clean the canals where mosquitoes lay their eggs. It was just such a big problem for my community and we still relevant to this day. I have experienced the effects that mosquitos can do people and what It can do to poor countries so I totally Agree that we should bring extinction to those disease carrying mosquitos.
2- Kenna
Mosquito can be considered one of the deadest insects, due to the various diseases they transmit. This includes yellow fever, West Nile, chikungunya, lymphatic filariasis, dengue, Zika and the most commonly known virus Malaria. Worldwide there are an estimate of 228 million Malaria cases, and approximately 1 million die each year. Africa has a higher mortality rate, because of the lack of resources and diagnostic testing, financial issues also mosquitos are developing resistance to certain pesticides. This is an ongoing public health concern that is affecting many individuals. With the capability of having the technology to develop a genetic element to eliminate specific species within the 3,500 mosquitos could be beneficial. Eradicating harmful mosquitos, such as the Anopheles and Aedes will protect countries tremendously that aren’t able to receive the same care as we do In the United States.
According to Dr.Mbogo who is the founder of Pan African Mosquito Control he explained that Sub Saharan Africa are also dealing with high numbers of Sickle Cell Disease, which makes it unlikely for a patient to recover, if they are also diagnosed with Malaria. Having the chance to be able to have a self-destruct gene to eliminate the disease carrying Mosquitos will give rural areas a possibility of living a longer life. Not only is Africa affected by these numerous diseases, it is also infecting thousands of people in Asia and South America. The Zika virus which is contracted by Aedes aegypti that are more common in tropical urban areas. Having the ability to reduce or even get rid of the specific species would decrease the mortality rate, and would lower the amount of disease outbreaks that are developed due to Mosquitos. It wouldn’t be right away, but overtime we would be able to see a change.
There also could be some cons when it comes to introducing this alteration to our ecosystem. Many fish species especially mosquitofish would have to find different food sources if this ecological change occurred. Mosquitofish thrive on mainly consuming mosquitos, which are even used for pest control in rice fields and swimming pools, and then that can end up going extinct. Many amphibians such as lizards, frogs, spiders, and salamander’s main source of food are mosquitos. It might not be too drastic of a change, because they could find other bugs to consume, but we wouldn’t know until the after man of eliminating the species. Mosquitos also make up a large amount of biomass in aquatic ecosystems all around the world. They exist in a variety of ponds, to holes in trees and fed on decaying leaves, organic matter and microorganisms. Still we have no proof if other feeders would take place in doing this, but the water and location plays a factor into if any other organisms would be involved.
3-Jordan
Regarding “There are many more kinds of parasitic than non-parasitic organisms. Organisms that are not parasites are hosts of parasites. Most parasites are, themselves, hosts to other parasites.” At first-did not coincide with my previous perception of the various types of organisms in the world as I have only associated the word parasite with a negative connotation. However, since reading Module 4c-Defining Parasites I have learned that parasitism is in fact all around us and means more than direct death or benefiting at the expense of another. I found it interesting that parasitism is not only a type of symbiosis but that there are three different kinds. Commensalism-which an organism benefits from the host but the host is not impacted nor affected. Parasitism- the type which comes to mind when thinking of an organism that does benefit at the expense of the other. Then there is Mutualism-when both partners benefit from the relationship.
I personally loved the example of how Capuchin Monkeys pollinate flowers with residual nectar that they eat from the flowers as they swing from branch to branch. Mutualist symbiosis makes the most sense to me evolutionarily specifically trophic mutualism because that is when one resource is exchanged for another. According to Influence of evolution on the stability of ecological communities- graphs showed that communities that contain trophic mutualism interactions tend to be more stable compared to other interaction types which shows that relationships that benefit from one another create a stable ecosystem which then provides an environment that is more likely to evolve over time.
The statement “There are more kinds of parasitic than non-parasitic organisms.” also makes sense to me evolutionarily because understanding the relationship between the three types of symbiosis and the way they interact with various ecosystems can help ensure that life continues to evolve. For example, Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have symbiotic relationships with a vast majority of plants and provide nutrients, water and resistance to pathogens and the plant provides carbon. After learning more about the types of symbiosis I have expanded my perception and have realized how commensalism, mutualistic and parasitism foster growth within every ecosystem and play a vital role in evolution.
