While their bites are certainly annoying, mosquitos serve several important roles in the environment. FILE PHOTO

By Tommy Osborne

Mosquitos

Drop in mosquito population not necessarily reason to celebrate

Aug 29, 2024 | 4:23 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Whether it’s been walking through the park or hitting the golf course over the summer, many in Prince George noticed less mosquitos than usual this summer. The reason behind the mosquito disappearing act is quite simple: the weather hasn’t been right for them.

“It’s been pretty dry throughout the spring and into a good part of the summer as well, and the mosquitos rely a lot on water for their life cycle,” said UNBC Faculty of Environment Professor Dezene Huber.

“A lot of their life cycle, their eggs and their larvae, they spend in watery situations, either in sort of lakeside marshes, things like that, or even in really small little puddles, or water that’s in old tires or children’s toys in yards, tree cavities, etc., depending on the species of the mosquitos. They need to have a fair amount of water around to build up their populations, to go through their life cycles, and we just haven’t had a ton of water this year,” Huber continued.

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While the lack of mosquitos was certainly celebrated by many, as they tend to be a huge summertime annoyance, a mosquito shortage could be bad news for the environment as they serve several important roles in the environment.

“The females and the males also feed on nectar so they pollinate plants. And the larvae also do a fair amount of filtering of algae and other things from water bodies as well, so they help to clean water to some extent too,” Huber said.

Beyond these roles mosquitos also serve as a valuable food source for many animals like bats. If the mosquito population goes down, it’s possible the entire ecosystem could get derailed.

“If we do have less mosquitoes the bats will be targeting other insect species in turn, so they could be decreasing the other numbers. And if the bats do have less insects overall, we could be seeing a decrease in their numbers,” said Tina Watters, the BC Community Bat Program’s Omineca Regional Bat Coordinator.

Watters explained bats serve many roles in the environment, like pollination, seed dispersal, and pest control, so a drop in the bat population due to less mosquitos to eat could cause problems, especially in agriculture.

“Scientists in the U.S., they estimate that these insect eating bats may be saving U.S. farmers roughly $23 billion each year by reducing crop damage and limiting the need for pesticides,” Watters said.

80% of bat species can be found in BC, with 7 of those being confirmed in the Omineca region. All but three of those species are considered at risk, but Watters said bats are long lived so one season of fewer mosquitos shouldn’t have dire impacts. As for the mosquitos themselves, Huber isn’t overly concerned that this mosquito shortage will be permanent.

“1 or 2 dry years is not going to wipe out any mosquito population, they are very resilient to drought, especially in areas like British Columbia where we experience wet and dry years quite frequently,” Huber said.

With the possibility of the mosquito population returning to normal next year, it’s possible our bat population will remain well fed despite a lower supply this season.

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