this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

I'll just edit instead!

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[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Hard to say. Mosquitos, is probably not one of them because even as much as we hate them, many animals prey on them, so unless other insect replaces them as a food source for those animals, them disappearing would probably affect many other species and subsequently, other species that may feed or depend in some form on those that feed on mosquitos.

My answer would probably be ticks, since I don't think there's many animals that feed on them and their only usefulness is population control, which should be doable by other species either way.

Edit: bed bugs as well, since it was mentioned by other commenters, I hate those fuckers and last I checked they weren't any animal's primary food source.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I remember reading some scientic article that examined what would happen if we eradicated the mosquitos entirely.

Surprisingly, they came to the conclusion that they'd just be gone and we would be a lot happier without the nuisance and the diseases they spread.

No other species is dependent on mosquitos as a food source, they could easily find enough to eat with them gone. Mosquitos apparently serve no known vital purpose in their ecosystems, although it was mentioned that males of some species have some little value as secondary pollinators.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The bats would miss them.

Any change to the biodiversity on our planet will have a negative effect. What is a pest to you is food for another species, or a pollinator, or any of dozens of valuable purposes.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ticks and botflies. We don't need maggots making a home in our skin. Even worse is what they do to animals like sheep.

Mosquitos are mainly an annoyance to me and I can deal with them.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

The poisonous (not venomous) grasshoppers that eat plants to death but nothing eats them.

Really it is people, though.

[โ€“] starman2112 7 points 1 year ago

Parasitic worms

I haven't vomited in years, but the concept of those things makes me feel like I'm gonna

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Mosquitos. Also bedbugs. Any insect that feeds on blood really

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Mosquitos are the largest killer of people in history. Getting rid of them would have a massive positive effect.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Same for me, mosquitoes. Those pesky little buggers!

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Whatever shit's been preserved in the permafrost that's bound to come back.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[โ€“] nitefox 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Australians would say emus

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[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I feel like a reasonable but controversial answer to this is cows

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It's an understandable answer that kind of misses the point. Cows are an incredible strain on the environment because of how fucking many of them humans breed in order to abuse and murder. But deleting cows would just prompt people to breed and abuse a different animal so it wouldn't help that much

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[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Methane and total acreage needed per cow

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