Do Mosquitoes Have a Purpose?

From itchy bug bites to illnesses, mosquitoes seem to do more harm than good in their environments. While the purpose of mosquitoes may be undermined by their troublesome behaviors, they do play a positive role in their ecosystems. But that doesn’t mean you have to let them hang out in your space.

Learn more about the purpose of mosquitoes and the positive and negative effects they can have on an ecosystem.

Mosquitoes’ Role in the Environment

A mosquito’s main purpose is to serve as food for other animals and to work as a pollinator, but their role has adverse effects too.

The positive impacts of mosquitoes include:

• Playing a role in the food chain. Mosquito larvae serve as food for fish, amphibians, and insects. Adult mosquitoes are eaten by birds, bats, and larger bugs such as dragonflies and spiders.
• Working as pollinators. Male mosquitoes eat plant nectar and serve as pollinators as they travel from plant to plant.
• Making compost. Mosquito larvae eat organic matter in the water where they are growing. They recycle the matter, turning it into compost.

However, mosquitoes also play a negative part in the ecosystem by spreading several harmful diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever. While the mosquitoes themselves do not create the diseases, they become carriers after feeding on the blood of an infected human or animal. Then they pass it on to their next host.

Do We Need Mosquitoes?

Mosquitoes cause harm by carrying diseases and annoying people with itchy bites. However, if all mosquitoes were to go extinct, there would be consequences. There are more than 100 trillion mosquitoes in the world, and eliminating this population would take away a huge food source and impact the food chain as a whole. Many animals rely on mosquitoes as food and would need to make up for the loss of resources. If an extinction happened gradually, however, other animals would likely adapt successfully.

Can We Make Mosquitoes Extinct?

Even if it was decided that the ecosystem would be better off without mosquitoes, it would be virtually impossible to eliminate all of them through human intervention. There are over 3,000 species of mosquitoes, which tells us that they are masters of adapting to new environments. The more likely outcome of working to terminate all mosquitoes would be the emergence of new mosquito populations.

There are some ongoing scientific field programs for controlling the most problematic types of mosquitoes, like Aedes aegypti, with biotechnology and other methods. But these experimental efforts are not intended to eliminate all types of mosquitoes.

Can I Treat My Yard for Mosquitoes?

Short answer: Yes. While mosquitoes do provide benefits wherever they live, they can be very harmful to humans. Decreasing the mosquito population in your own yard with mosquito barrier treatment or an automatic mosquito misting system will have little consequence beyond protecting you and your family from bug bites!

If you’re ready to keep mosquitoes off your property, connect with the Mosquito Squad experts near you. Get a service quote or call the squad at (877) 332-2239.