Mosquitoes are insects that have been part of the natural ecosystem for millions of years. They belong to the family Culicidae and are ectoparasites, which rely mainly on consuming blood from their hosts. Mosquitoes exist in different types that include anopheles, coquillettidia, culex, culiseta, mansonia, ochlerotatus, psorophora, uranotaenia, and wyeomyia mosquitoes (Service, 2013). Mosquitoes are widely distributed across the world, except Antarctica, and a few regions with polar and sub-polar climates. They are dispersed from one place to another through human agencies such as sea routes where larvae and pupae inhabit water-filled chambers such as tires and flowers and are transported with them to other regions of the world (Reiss, 2016). According to evidence, mosquitoes have considerable benefits to the ecosystem. They can either bring positive or negative effects to the global natural ecosystem. Therefore, this research paper examines the pros and cons of the mosquitoes in the ecosystems and the way in which they affect human beings.
According to evidence, mosquitoes have both positive and negative effects on the natural ecosystems. One of the positive effects of the mosquitoes is that they are a source of food to the other animals in the ecosystem. According to Burkett-Cadena (2013), mosquitoes act as a source of food for the other animals, especially as mosquito larvae. Female mosquitoes lay thousands of eggs during their lifetime. However, most of them are eaten in either larval or pupal stage by other animals in the ecosystem such as small fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects, and tadpoles. In a normal ecosystem, there is a positive dependence between living organisms. The existing food chain must be maintained at all times to ensure ecological sustainability. For example, while small fish feed on mosquito larvae and pupae, adult mosquitoes feed on their vertebrates by sucking blood from them. In some cases, infected animals die and are decomposed by decomposers in the soil (Burkett-Cadena, 2013). Therefore, this shows that mosquitoes are beneficial to the ecosystem since they act as a source of food to the other animals and ensure that a balance in the natural ecosystem exists.
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Mosquitoes are also good pollinators (Webb, Doggett, & Russell, 2016). According to evidence, adult female mosquitos mainly feed on blood from their hosts. Adult male mosquitoes, on the other hand, do not feed on blood but nectar from plants. In some cases, adult female mosquitoes also feed on nectar in order to supplement the nutrition they need for them to produce eggs. Unlike other insects such as bees that collect pollen from flowers, mosquitoes fly from one flower to another in order to feed. In doing this, they carry pollen from one flower to the other, a fact that contributes to pollination. The modes of pollination that plants rely on either can be cross or self-pollination. In self-pollination, there must be a transfer of pollen grains within the same plant while the exchange of pollen should occur in cross-pollinated plants. The presence of mosquitoes in the ecosystem contributes facilitates these since they shake off the pollen from flowers as they feed on nectar or carry the pollen to other plants as they search for nectar. Pollination has considerable benefits to human existence. It ensures that crops give the quality produce that can sustain human nutritional and economic needs (Webb et al., 2016). Based on this, mosquitoes are beneficial to the natural ecosystem since they promote plant pollination.
Mosquitoes are also beneficial to the natural ecosystem since they act as filters. This possible through the action of the mosquito larvae that live on the surface of the water and feed on some organic materials. According to Cameron & Lorenz (2013), mosquito larvae feed on detritus materials that float on the water surface, which have negative effects on the natural ecosystem. First, they impede the penetration of sunlight into the water, thus affecting the health of other aquatic organisms that depend on sunlight for their survival. Secondly, detritus prevent the free exchange of nitrogen between aquatic organisms and the environment. Normally, aquatic plants release nitrogen to the environment and take in oxygen in exchange. Similarly, aquatic animals such as frogs release wastes that have high nitrogen content to their environment. If the nitrogen is not released to the environment, it builds up in the aquatic ecosystem. This will harm the health of the aquatic organisms since nitrogen is poisonous to their health. Therefore, without mosquitoes, plants and the whole of the aquatic ecosystem would perish alongside mosquito larvae not having access to the nutrients they need for their survival.
Globally, there are animals that migrate on a daily basis. An example is birds, which are constantly on the move searching for regions that are more hospitable across the world. As they do so, they need reliable food sources that would sustain them in their journey and their survival in their new environments. In such cases, mosquitoes act as a reliable source of food to them (Miller, 2011). Thus, without them, the migratory behaviors of these birds will not be possible due to the shortage of the food stores they need for their survival.
In addition, mosquitoes are beneficial to the natural ecosystem since they play a great role in population control. According to evidence, female mosquitoes are good vectors for diseases that affect animals, including human beings. In most cases, those infected with the diseases spread by mosquitoes die due to the severity of the symptoms associated with these diseases. In the end, the mosquitoes play a critical role in the society since they regulate the animal population across the world (Service, 2013). This is important since it reduces incidences of animals competing for the same resources in their environments.
Despite the above ecological benefits associated with mosquitoes, they also have negative effects on the environment, in specific human beings. Mosquitoes cause a wide range of diseases to human beings. They include West Nile Virus, encephalitis, Zika Virus, Chikungunya virus, dengue fever, battle the bite, and malaria (Mehlhorn, 2012). According to statistics given by the Center for Disease Control, malaria is among the leading causes of death and disease in most of the developing countries globally, with children and expectant mothers being highly at a risk. The World Health Organization also reports that at least 3.2 billion people globally are at a risk of being affected by malaria on an annual basis. In 2012, malaria caused 627, 000 deaths worldwide (CDC, n.d.). Zika virus is another disease spread by mosquitoes, which has considerable health effects to its victims. According to statistics, transmission of Zika virus was documented in 62 countries between 1st January 2017 and 6th April 216. The disease is associated with health effects such as fetal malformations and microcephaly (WHO, n.d.). Therefore, despite mosquitoes being beneficial to the natural ecosystem, they are harmful to human beings since they cause a wide range of health problems to them.
In conclusion, mosquitoes have considerable effects on the natural ecosystem. They contribute to the creation of an equilibrium that exists between producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem. For example, they aid in pollination, regulate world's population, cause diseases, acts as a source of food, and filters detritus in their environment. However, it should be noted that mosquitoes have a negative effect on human beings. They cause diseases, which are often associated with high mortality rates in most of the developing countries. Therefore, efforts that aim at reducing their contact with the human beings should be embraced as a way of reducing incidences of diseases caused by them.
References
Burkett-Cadena, N. D. (2013). Mosquitoes of the Southeastern United States . Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Cameron, M. M., & Lorenz, L. M. (2013). Biological and Environmental Control of Disease Vectors . Wallingford: CABI.
CDC (n.d.). Impact of Malaria. Retrieved July 12, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/impact.html
Mehlhorn, H. (2012). Arthropods as Vectors of Emerging Diseases . New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Miller, D. (2011). Midnight Wilderness: Journeys in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . Seattle: Braided River.
Reiss, C. S. (2016). Neurotropic Viral Infections: Volume 2: Neurotropic Retroviruses, DNA Viruses, Immunity and Transmission . New York: Springer.
Service, S. W. (2013). Mosquito Ecology: Field sampling methods . Dodrecht: Springer Science & Business Media.
Webb, C., Doggett, S., & Russell, R. (2016). A Guide to Mosquitoes of Australia . Clayton: Csiro Publishing.
WHO, (n.d). Zika situation report. Retrieved July 12, 2017, from http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/situation-report/7-april-2016/en/
