Please do not spray against mosquitoes.

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Please do not spray against mosquitoes.

aAll living things play a crucial role in the ecosystem. Mosquitoes are a food source for fish, predatory insects, bats, birds, dragonflies, spiders and other mosquitoes. They also filter feed, turn organic matter and help recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem. Mosquitoes are also pollinators and help plants reproduce.

Here are some other reasons why you might not want to do thispray for mosquitoes:

  1. Effects of chemicals: Some people and pets may experience eye, skin, nose or throat irritation, or breathing problems, even cancer, after exposure to chemicals.
  2. Pesticide residues: Pesticides can remain on outdoor surfaces such as walkways and furniture after spraying.
  3. Small swimming insects: Oil surfactants used to reduce the surface tension of water can cause small insects to suffocate and disrupt the entire food chain.
  4. Whether natural or synthetic insecticides, broad spectrum insecticides are highly toxic to a wide variety of insects, not just mosquitoes.

A few years ago I went on a fishing trip to a wilderness area in central Ontario, Canada. It was so remote that at night we heard wolves howling and saw bears and the northern lights. I took mosquito repellent with me, but to my surprise I didn’t need it. The lodge owner said the area had never been sprayed and that he had cataloged more than 40 different species of dragonflies. Some dragonflies were beautiful iridescent blues, reds and greens. It was the dragonflies that kept the mosquitoes under control.

Florida has more than 100 species of dragonflies, and some say 169 species have been recorded in the state. Florida is home to a total of 187 butterfly species, the most of any state east of the Mississippi River. However, Vineyards Community Park in Collier County has a butterfly garden without butterflies.

Although spraying can be somewhat successful against flood mosquitoes, the Aedes mosquito, which can spread yellow fever, dengue fever and chikungunya, breeds in containers that are not in easily accessible places.

  1. The Aedes mosquito lays its eggs in containers, jars, cans, bottles, cupboards, household waste and indoors.
  2. It lays its eggs above the waterline.
  3. When the water level rises, the eggs fall, hatch and mature.
    • These conditions are not ideal for mass spraying campaigns.
  4. Mosquito spraying is timed when mosquitoes are present. In other words, after you’ve been bitten
  5. Larvicides disrupt the food chain and deprive fish of their natural food by killing beneficial larvae that feed on mosquito larvae.
  6. Dragonflies, on the other hand, are always looking for their primary food.
  7. We need dragonflies to protect us from all types of mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes can become resistant to insecticides. See reference [1] below.

  1. Pyrethroid insecticides remain the primary means of controlling adult Aedes.
  2. Resistance to pyrethroids has been found around the world, but levels vary.
  3. Resistance is mainly due to gene mutations.
  4. Multiple mutations can result in highly resistant mosquito populations.
  5. Mosquitoes cannot develop resistance to dragonflies.
  6. Humans do not develop resistance to pesticides.

Since 2003 to 2024I have travelled eleven times more than 32 weeks through the entire Brazilian Amazon rainforest in five different Brazilian states and have only seen two mosquitoes in all my travels. If you have a balanced ecosystem, pest problems can be easily managed. I spent two weeks living with locals in an Amazonian village called San Antonio de Matupi, deep in the Amazon. I interviewed several people who said there was no malaria in the area. Malaria occurs in Brazil, but is very rare in cities and towns.

Insecticides will kill predatory insects such as dragonflies, which have mosquitoes as their main food source. The mosquitoes have a much shorter reproductive cycle than the predators and you will end up with more mosquitoes than before. Not to mention killing beneficial insects like honeybees and butterflies. Insect-eating birds and bats are also vulnerable and people can’t help being exposed to spray water. Some insecticides are extremely lethal to humans, others are systemicN the plants and nectar from the flowers of sprayed plants will kill bees and butterflies. Spraying insecticides in rivers and ponds is extremely expensiveNL an ecological disaster. Window screens, mosquito nets and insect repellents are some effective ways to avoid being bitten. Mosquitoes usually come out at dawn and dusk.

Ddragonflies wsick protect us from all kinds of mosquitoes always.

One solution could be to reintroduce native dragonflies to areas where spraying has made them nearly extinct.

Please read “The Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson.

DDT is banned, but some insecticides used today are much worse.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

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