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Mosquitoes, hate them or despise them for we all know that no one loves them - they are one of the most annoying pests in North America.

With an association to Lyme disease, Encephalitis and life threatening allergies we go to any length to eradicate these pests. Just the small but persistence annoyance of a buzzing biting mosquito is enough to make even the best party move indoors. From heavy equipment (fogging trucks) to special candles, an entire billion dollar industry devotes itself to eradicating these wee nighttime horrors.

It's hard to imagine that entire eco-systems would collapse without them:

There are some species of fish whose young (fry) exist almost solely on mosquito larva until they are big enough to go after other things. People who keep aquariums will know them under their marketed name of Blood Worms. Bass, Pike, Trout, Perch and a host of fish making up the fishing industry all start out as little insect eating fish. Take away the mosquitoes and you take away a favourite sport and for many a livelihood.

Some species of bat will eat almost a thousand mosquitoes a night. As a matter of fact with the mosquito being one of only a few insects that are active at dusk and throughout the night they make up the bulk of most night time insect eaters diets such as frogs, bats and some small species of owl and most smaller birds. Bats, frogs and small birds may not seem vital to us but to the larger predators that depend on them for survival it's vital that this part of the food chain have access to a healthy and abundant food supply.

While the blood sucking of the female is unpleasant to us, it provides a key source of protein for any creature relying on them for their sustenance. The insect itself and the blood bloating its abdominal cavity makes the mosquito a nutritional building block like no other for those that depend on it for survival.

Of course only the female actually drinks blood (which she uses for brooding her young), the male drinks plant nectar. There's a lot to be said for anything that can pollinate the food we eat. In some areas mosquitoes can actually play a bigger role than bees in pollinating crops. This is most especially obvious in the spring time where even a healthy bee population may simply be unable to keep up with the sheer numbers of newly bloomed flowers. It is no coincidence of nature that mosquitoes are at their most active in the spring and early summer when flowers are most abundant.

Of course the poisons we use to kill mosquitoes also kill other insects, compounding an already complicated problem. Then again some of the poisons we use can also kill us and some have. It's hard to see the benefits of encouraging the survival of one of the most irritating pests known to man. Other insects also carry disease, but none spark our ire like the mosquito. Other insects suck human blood, without the same attention or concern.

Mosquitoes are the most blatant example of an insect pest, but like it or not we simply can't afford to eradicate them or we could be eradicating ourselves.

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