From Helen Linton
In his enthusiasm for ridding the world of mosquitoes, Oliver Morton seems to have forgotten the simple ecological fact that all species have an effect on the community around them (22 March, p 32). If the mosquito and the diseases it carries are made extinct, there will be an unknown effect on various wild populations.
The extinction of one species often leads to the imbalance of wild populations, especially when regarding a species such as the mosquito, which has so many interactions with various species of mammals, birds and invertebrates. For millions of people across the world the eradication of the mosquito would be an obvious benefit, but would this “final” solution really be the unmitigated blessing it seems?
Burnham, Buckinghamshire, UK
