Posted on 10/01/2023 12:37:55 PM PDT by Libloather
Mosquitoes could be the sole species to be benefitting from climate change, as the warmer and wetter weather that comes with global warming makes for their ideal environment.
Thanks to this, the insects are growing bigger and living longer, increasing their ability to pick up and spread potentially deadly diseases.
Bites from the blood-sucking bugs are more than just an annoyance – different species can carry infectious diseases including dengue fever, Zika virus, yellow fever, chikungunya virus, malaria, and West Nile virus that they pick up from one person and pass it on to the next.
Mosquito-borne disease experts are concerned that as global temperatures continue to rise, warmer, more humid weather will become the norm in new places, making those locations the perfect breeding grounds for mosquito populations to flourish.
And as temperatures heat up and mosquitoes migrate to places they previously couldn't thrive in, their extended reach and longer lifespans give them ample opportunity to spread diseases in new parts of the world.
Climate change is one of the most pressing and politically-charged issue, and is set to bring higher temperatures in previously temperate regions, more extreme weather, and increased flooding, all of which are factors that encourage a growing population of bigger mosquitoes that stick around for longer periods.
Global average temperatures have risen by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit Since the late 1800s, with most of the increases occurring over the past 50 years.
The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere has risen as a result, about one to two percent every decade, according to the United Nations.
Dr Photini Sinnis, Deputy Director of Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, told DailyMail.com: 'The most important thing for mosquitoes and mosquito longevity is humidity.'
As greenhouse gases trap heat within the atmosphere, temperatures on Earth climb...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Guess who grew up watching too many Godzilla movies on Saturday afternoons? I feel like the evening news should be in overdubbed Japanese.
Some bats eat mosquitoes.
Some eat fish.
The head shape and red mane on yours suggests it would be extremely dangerous...to giant bioengineered bananas.
👍
State bird of Alaska.
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