 any number of beneficial insects that are in your yard, including bees, butterflies, beneficial wasps, many insects that are actually eating and killing pests in your yard.”
The other shortcoming of the chemical approach is that mosquitoes are mobile, flying into yards that have been sprayed and replacing those insects that were killed.
“Just because you’re spraying your yard, mosquitoes can still move in after that chemical settles out and they’re going to still bother you,” Code said. “It’s a very short-term, shortsighted fix.”
The sales pitch for one of the more popular mosquito-spraying companies is “The only good mosquito is a dead one.” But what about the ecological roles mosquitoes play?
Raven Forrest Fruscalzo is a science communicator who earned a master’s of science degree with a focus on entomology from the University of Notre Dame. She also produces a podcast, Tiny Vampires, about blood-sucking invertebrates.
Fruscalzo said mosquitoes are valuable, filling more than one niche in the ecosystem.
“Because they’re so low on the food chain and they’re produced in such numbers, especially mosquito larvae, they’re one of the primary food sources of young dragon flies,” she said. “So, they’re an aquatic insect and a lot of other important aquatic insects are feeding on them. … They’re also pollinators, so they’re going after the nectar in plants, just like other pollinators.”
Fruscalzo also noted that not all mosquitoes feed on humans.
“There are a lot of different types of mosquitoes,” she said. “There are thousands of species and many of them, in fact, never bite humans. They’ll feed off of reptiles like snakes or amphibians, so they have different specializations. Lots of different things eat them. For example, if you put a hummingbird feeder out, you’ll reduce the number of mosquitoes in your yard because hummingbirds love eating mosquitoes.”
DEM recommends an integrated management approach to controlling mosquitoes. This approach includes eliminating standing water where they breed, repairing window screens, applying repellent, and dressing in long sleeves and pants.
Code, of the Xerces Society, said getting rid of standing water is the most effective measure homeowners can take.
“Get rid of the breeding ground,” she said. “A small can or any little inch of water can breed mosquitoes. It doesn’t take much. It’s an amazing solution. Rarely do we have silver bullets, but, for some mosquitoes, that really can be a silver bullet.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated a few hours after it was posted.