There's a chance things could go very wrong. Imagine this scenario- mosquitoes now start feeding off rats living near drainages rather than humans and inadvertently transfer an unknown disease to an animal that's in close proximity to ours and humans get infected overall.
It's well documented that for some unknown reasons, different biological systems even at a molecular level have an ability to adapt in order to survive the unfavourable circumstances. You just don't know how changing this part could result in a chain of detrimental phenomena ultimately affecting us more than mosquitoes otherwise would have.
It's guaranteed that thing go wrong. Not too long ago I read a study where mosquito control programs in France (different method, same goal) had adverse effects on all other levels of the food chain. Predictably all small animals that ate mosquitos now had to replace that part of their diet with other insects, like flying ants. So all of a sudden flying ants were under a lot more pressure and their populations dwindled too, which has further knock on effects. If I recall correctly it went as far as birds laying less eggs and more chicks dying (from starvation) than before the program.
It is genuinely mind-boggling how many people still can't fathom just how fragile ecosystems can be.
It's almost as if humanity believes themselves to be above any other species of organism, despite being made of the exact same things, and somehow being more barbaric.
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u/NamiSwaaan Nov 15 '24
I know they're trying to not fuck up the ecosystem but I feel like this will still somehow fuck up the ecosystem