2006-09-06 13:50:26 · 8 answers · asked by Bob P 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
they feed the spiders that catch them
2006-09-06 13:53:50 · answer #1 · answered by Ichigo204 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mosquitos while harmful when carrying disease are the major food sources for so many creatures....Mice, rats, mosquitos are all what is considered a Keystone species, meaning that without them a specific part of almost all ecosystems would collapse and the result would be chaos... much like if you removed the keystone from an arch above your door, the whole frame would collapse.
If mosquitos were exterminated, all creatures in an ecosystem would be effected right up to the top predators.... For example, male mosquitos feed only on nectar only the females consume a blood meal before laying thier eggs (they also feed on nectar) when they feed on the nectar, they help to pollinate many species of night blooming plants...take them away and those plants suffer and the population decreases, affecting any other creatures dependant upon the plants, then the creatures that feed on the plant eating creatures suffer because of the population decline in thier prey...etc etc it goes on and on. So many creatures rely heavily on mosquitos for thier food source, such as bats, frogs/toads, Nighthawks, whipoorwills, dragonflies, barn swallows, tree swallows, purple martins, paraques, Spiders, minnows feed on the mosquito larvae in the water, and water bugs and tadpoles and all sorts of aquatic creatures or creatures in thier aquatic phase of life.also...Toxorhynchites(mosquito hawks) and predator crustaceans, nematodes, and fungi. Not to mention the fact that mosquitos are just about the ONLY population control for humans, without them this world would already be overpopulated with humans and most likely would already be destroyed, malaria(carried by certain mosquito species) has been estimated to be the cause of half of all human deaths since the stone age, and the plasmodium that causes malaria is the deadliest creature to humans...
SO what purpose do mosquitos serve?? They feed countless other creatures, they pollinate flowers and they spread diseases which are important in population control for many species on the planet... Without them it is very likely that civilization and the ecosystem as we know it would not exist because mosquitos play such an important role in many aspects.
2006-09-06 17:44:02 · answer #2 · answered by Kelly + Eternal Universal Energy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pretty much like anything else on the food chain. Something has to feed the spiders. Spiders get eaten by other predators. It's the same with algae that may not seem to serve any purpose. However, when you follow the Food Chain, it feeds something else that feeds something else till it gets up to us.
2006-09-06 13:58:28 · answer #3 · answered by Link of Hyrule 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ensure the survival of the Encephilitis virus and keep the human population in check.
Or, if you watched Lilo and Stitch, mosquitoes are the higher life form on this planet, and humans are here to support them.
2006-09-06 13:56:07 · answer #4 · answered by Dave 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Mosquitoes are food for a lot of animals. They also happen to annoy humans as well.
2006-09-06 14:43:02 · answer #5 · answered by Scott S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pollination and feed birds, bats & dragonflies
2006-09-06 13:56:55 · answer #6 · answered by robyn o 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They feed several organisms, which in turn, feed other organisms, then...those organisms feed other organisms..so on and so forth.
2006-09-06 13:57:01 · answer #7 · answered by *~*Mary*~* 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1279490
2006-09-08 01:48:46 · answer #8 · answered by sarah m 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋