Next to the bees’ population, climate chance causes uncontrolled growths within the Arctic Mosquitoes’ population. Scientists fear rising temperatures will allow mosquitoes to live longer, putting other species in danger.
It’s autumn and as much as we’d like to spend the mild sunny days in the outdoor, the buzzing mosquitoes prevent us from fully enjoying our trips. Scientists at Dartmouth College’s Institute of Arctic Studies think the situation could get worse if we do not prevent climate change.
They have conducted a research to establish how raising temperatures in the Arctic will affect the mosquitoes’ population. For this scientific quest, they have made computer simulations imaging a scenario in which temperatures would rise by 2 degrees Celsius.
The results were really surprising and alarming, at the same time. It turns out the additional 2 degrees Celsius trigger a 53 percent growth in the population of Arctic mosquitos. The latter would have more chances of getting to a mature age causing many more damages to caribou exemplars.
Researchers have noticed other effects, as well. It appears that growing temperatures at the poles of the Earth cause mosquitos to emerge from pupal stage two weeks earlier than normal periods. Until now, Arctic mosquitoes used to appear during springtime when snow melted forming tundra ponds. Scientists think mosquitoes will no longer wait until springtime to emerge and they will have a much faster evolution.
Although computer simulations have not been able to prove this hypothesis, researchers think warm conditions will further trigger physical changes on mosquitoes. Thus, we may soon see bigger insects with unusual features that could survive even within the harshest conditions.
A similar change in the population of biting insects is said to determine alteration among other species, as well. Caribou, mosquitoes’ favorite victims, will be forced to travel to colder regions where they will have fewer chances of dealing with insects. At the same time, food in colder regions may be scarcer and Caribou may suffer of malnutrition.
Preventing climate change and mosquitoes’ growth should be world leaders’ main preoccupation, considering that biting insects could transmit many health diseases to humans. Malaria, dengue, yellow fever are just some of the affections that humanity may have to deal with if Arctic mosquito swarms will increase.
Image source: www.photoshelter.com
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