Buzzkill: Mosquitoes Power Our Ecosystem

It’s a question that many of us have asked ourselves while swatting or slapping away an annoying buzz: “What good are mosquitoes?” We see them as little more than bloodsucking pests, vectors for devastating diseases like malaria, chikungunya, and dengue fever, and an all-around nuisance. While many people wish to eliminate mosquitoes from the surface of the Earth, you will be surprised to know that mosquitoes matter a lot in our fragile ecosystem.

Small Bite, Big Role

For years, scientists have been developing innovative ways to manage mosquito populations, from sterile insect techniques to genetic drives that cause them to produce more male offspring. The aim is to decimate the populations of disease-carrying species like Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito). But for some environmentalists and wildlife experts, this is a dangerous gamble, one with potentially catastrophic consequences for the intricate web of life.

“They are a key food source for spiders, dragonflies, and damselflies on land. Meanwhile, mosquito larvae are eaten by several aquatic insects, such as water beetles, water bugs, and the larvae of dragonflies, damselflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies, as well as tadpoles of frogs,” says Anish Andheria, president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Trust.

The idea of a world without them — a world free of their incessant whine and their itchy bites — is a tantalising one.

But what if their eradication, a goal now being pursued through advanced genetic technologies, could wreak havoc on our planet’s delicate ecosystems?

Nuisance vs Nature

In India, the fight against mosquito-borne diseases is a constant public health battle. According to the National Centre for Vector-Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC), approximately 95% of the Indian population resides in malaria-endemic areas.

While the reported cases of malaria have shown a declining trend over the past two decades, with a significant drop from 2.09 million cases in 2001 to 0.19 million in 2020 (NCVBDC, Government of India), the threat remains. Dengue is another major concern, with over 32,000 cases reported across the country in 2024. According to a research paper published in the JMIR Research Protocol and PubMed Central, the economic burden of these diseases is substantial, with households losing an estimated 25% of their income to out-of-pocket expenses for malaria treatment alone. The sheer abundance of mosquitoes makes them a critical food source. The larvae and pupae, which flourish in stagnant water, are a fundamental part of the food chain in aquatic environments. Their removal could lead to a cascading effect, starving the fish, amphibians, and other insects that rely on them.

“Mosquito larvae play a significant role in recycling nutrients by feeding on organic matter in aquatic ecosystems, contributing to nutrient cycling and water quality,” Andheria adds. “Some adult mosquitoes, particularly males and non-biting females, are nectar feeders and act as pollinators for several species of plants, including orchids. Their presence supports biodiversity and ecosystem functioning by sustaining food webs and facilitating plant reproduction.”

A Vital Link

The same argument was made by Dr John Rafferty in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He wrote: “In most mosquito species, the males feed on nectar and other plant juices (sometimes the females do too). In the process, as researchers are quick to point out, mosquitoes act as important pollinators for thousands of plant species, albeit rarely for the crops that are important to us.” Rafferty also highlights their role as a ‘major food source for fishes and birds,’ pointing out that in aquatic environments, their eggs and larvae are a ‘substantial portion of the biomass, providing food not only for fishes but also for turtles, amphibians, and larvae of other insects, such as dragonflies.’

This ecological dilemma poses a unique challenge. How do we balance our desire to eliminate deadly diseases with the need to protect biodiversity? Hrushitaa Murali, an environmentalist and researcher, believes the focus should be on prevention rather than eradication. “While mosquitoes maintain a vital role in the ecosystem and biodiversity of any geography they exist within, the issue of ‘mosquito elimination’ arises primarily when humans intervene in the natural occurrence of the natural habitats of the ‘annoying’ creatures,” she states.

For Murali, the solution isn’t in genetically engineering mosquitoes out of existence, but in enhancing hygiene and managing stagnant water, the breeding ground for these insects. “From the perspective of humans, the effective and simple protocol of not allowing water to pool up or stay collected and undisturbed for too long would go a long way to avoiding a large percentage of humans interacting with mosquito populations.” This approach, she argues, would allow humans to live in a healthy, disease-free environment without attracting large populations of mosquitoes, while leaving the ecosystems they inhabit undisturbed.

The potential for large-scale genetic intervention is a particular concern for Murali. “Genetic engineering, while seemingly a great leap in ‘the right direction’ for scientific progress, poses an unintelligible threat to the very delicate fabric of balance in existing systems,” she says. “It is very possible that the current trajectory of developing more genetically engineered mosquitoes can lead to lethal complications in the mosquito species’ evolution and cause extinction in the long run.”

A Complex Web

The debate over the ecological impact of mosquitoes is a complex one. While the immediate human benefit of eliminating disease-carrying species is undeniable, the long-term risks to the environment are unknown. As Rafferty writes, “In addition, mosquitoes offer indirect ecological benefits. In Tundra and subarctic ecosystems, mosquito swarms sometimes pester caribou so much that they change the caribou’s migration behaviour. Caribou often run into the wind to avoid getting bitten, so they will favour parts of the landscape that are windy.” He adds, “Some researchers speculate that, if mosquitoes were to disappear from Arctic and subarctic regions, caribou would be free to roam as they pleased, bingeing on and crushing plants that had once been relatively safe from them.”

A world without mosquitoes may seem like a paradise, but it’s a paradise we might not want to enter. The ecological consequences are simply too great to ignore. As the famous proverb goes, “When you remove a single piece from a jigsaw puzzle, the picture is incomplete.” In this case, removing the mosquito could well mean the entire picture of a healthy ecosystem falls apart.

Mosquitoes Matter

• Mosquitoes are a key food source for spiders, dragonflies, and damselflies on land

• Mosquito larvae and pupae, which flourish in stagnant water, are a fundamental part of the food chain in aquatic environments.

• Mosquito larvae are eaten by water beetles, water bugs, and the larvae of dragonflies, damselflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies, as well as tadpoles of frogs

Mosquito Menace

• Approximately 95% of the Indian population resides in malaria-endemic areas (National Centre for Vector-Borne Diseases Control) 32,000 dengue cases were reported across India in 2024.

• Households lose 25% of their income to out-of-pocket expenses for malaria treatment alone (JMIR Research Protocol and PubMed Central)