This summer both flew by and dragged on for me.
When I think how quickly it passed by, I think about all I didn’t manage to accomplish — mostly seeds I intended to plant, and garden beds to weed.
When I think how slowly it went, I bring to mind many, many mosquito bites. Normally the blood suckers don’t bother me much — apparently I’m not their first choice. But last year came a change — suddenly I was getting bitten incessantly, and during the day.
On observing my daylight attackers, I noticed their distinctive black and white stripes. A quick online search tentatively identified them as Asian tiger mosquitos, a non-native species, one I was finding distinctly annoying.
This year it seemed the mosquitos were out all day, every day, although evenings were especially bad. I covered up neck to toe when outdoors at dusk. This wasn’t comfortable in the heat, but the alternative was rashes of bites.
Although I hate killing anything and relocate bugs generally, I clapped mosquitos out of self-preservation. These mosquitoes proved impervious to repellants which had worked wonders in previous years.
At the height of my annoyance a friend mentioned that mosquitos are pollinators. Not wanting to risk liking these annoying pests I chose to ignore that possibility. But then last week I watched a short video about mosquitos, and could no longer deny my interest in learning more.
While, yes, mosquito are annoying and can carry diseases, turns out they are also an important piece of our ecosystem.
We mostly only notice them while they are biting us and causing itchy bumps — but these are only moments in these insects’ complex lives.
Of the 3,500 species of mosquitos only about 200 consume human blood. They are pretty ancient creatures — their scales have been found in fossilized flowers from the mid-Cretaceous era.
During their larval state they eat algae and microbes which decompose biomass — thus cleaning the water.
As adults, mosquitos mostly rely on plant sugars and nutrients. They not only pollinate flowers, they themselves are also a valuable food source for frogs, salamanders, birds, and for other insects.
In the Arctic, plants rely heavily on mosquito pollination. The blunt-leaved orchid growing in the Northern part of the U.S.A. and Canada relies heavily on Aedes communis, or the snow pool mosquito, for pollination. They may also be important to carnivorous plants.
Data on plant-mosquito interaction is limited, because the subject is difficult to study. With so many mosquitos and so many plants, the two of which usually only get together at dusk and are easily disturbed by human movement, it isn’t easy data to collect.
Of mosquitos who suck human blood, only the females do so, and just to acquire protein for their eggs. These ladies don’t exclusively feed on humans; being large and with little hair, we are simply easy targets for them.
In addition to causing itchy bumps, mosquitos also transmit many diseases. Only a few mosquitos are to blame for this. Most of these insects are not carriers.
While I’m glad the cold weather means fewer mosquito bites, I now also feel bad for my erstwhile hatred of these insects. Annoying as they are, ultimately they are just pollinator mamas trying to get their babies what they need. We will see if my sympathy extends into next summer when the weather warms and they become a nuisance again.
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