THIS ISSUE

摘要

Niche work The belief that all organisms have a role in keeping an ecosystem in balance is sometimes used as a reason for hesitating about the eradication of disease vectors such as the Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit malaria and other diseases. Nature canvassed opinion on the matter from researchers working on mosquito biology and ecology. The message is that mosquitoes serve important ecological functions as predator, prey and pollinator. But all that earns them little sympathy from scientists: if they can be removed, many human lives will be saved, and the targeted ecosystems would hiccup and move on.