Would the routine killing of insects affect the ecosystem?

[Thrylix]

I'm 25 years old, have a professional job, and I still tend to crush any bug in my path. If I'm playing tennis or running and I see a spider or beetle crawling around my sneaker; I'll be honest - I'll probably squash it. I've never had a problem stepping on bugs, and I've definitely stepped on more than my fair share of the little guys.

However, I've seen some people object to the act. I'm considered an all-around good guy by people. But if I were being honest, I wouldn't have a second thought about flattening a bustling anthill on the sidewalk, and I've done that plenty of times. What would be the logical objection? Some people say insects feel pain but I can think of more painful ways to die than getting squashed instantly under the sole of a giant running shoe. Besides, when something is that small in size, do you really need a reason to step on it? The smell of my feet could kill these little guys. I know that insects are overall important to our ecosystem, but will a few crushed ones make a difference?

Should we care about the life of an insect?

[Iggy]

I'm 25 years old, have a professional job, and I still tend to crush any bug in my path. If I'm playing tennis or running and I see a spider or beetle crawling around my sneaker; I'll be honest - I'll probably squash it. I've never had a problem stepping on bugs, and I've definitely stepped on more than my fair share of the little guys.

 

However, I've seen some people object to the act. I'm considered an all-around good guy by people. But if I were being honest, I wouldn't have a second thought about flattening a bustling anthill on the sidewalk, and I've done that plenty of times. What would be the logical objection? Some people say insects feel pain but I can think of more painful ways to die than getting squashed instantly under the sole of a giant running shoe. Besides, when something is that small in size, do you really need a reason to step on it? The smell of my feet could kill these little guys. I know that insects are overall important to our ecosystem, but will a few crushed ones make a difference?

 

Should we care about the life of an insect?

 

How old are you and what's the largest animal you've killed? I hate to ask so bluntly, but I don't believe there is any other way anybody's getting to the bottom of this.

[Thrylix]

My age is in the first post. And probably a wasp.

[Iggy]

My age is in the first post. And probably a wasp.

 

The first post?... O, no... It was the first sentence in the first post! Ok... I look like an ass....

 

No, if you're 25 and the largest thing you've killed is a wasp then you having nothing to worry about. Killing insects is completely normal and part of your human drive toward staying healthy. It's totally normal. No dysfunction in the morality circuit there. In fact, you should probably kill something a bit bigger than a wasp immediately... and enjoy doing it. That would be my advice. For what it's worth.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Iggy

[CaptainPanic]

I am far more racist (as in: it matters which kind of arthropod):

 

Mosquitos: I am worse than you. I hunt them. I will devote time to kill them. I wish the whole species extinct.

Wasps: I just want them out of my immediate vicinity. I try to scare them away. If that fails, they die. But out of fear, not hate.

Flies: I don't really care, but will murder them if I get a chance.

Ants: outside the house I leave them alone. Inside the house, they die.

Beetles: and other creepy crawlers of the garden: I hardly ever come across them, so why would I care?

Butterflies: I like them, and will leave them alone.

Spiders: I generally leave them alone, because they are hunters themselves, and (I hope) will eat mosquitos. I consider them my allies. My house is their house.

[Thrylix]

I leave butterflies alone too. Spiders or ants, inside or out, I'll usually step on if they're in my vicinity. Well, inside I won't step on them but instead vacuum, or else they will get gunked up in the carpet.

[Moontanman]

We have ants here you probably wouldn't want to mess with their hills with out some planning, I like wasps, I tame them, spiders i ignore unless they happen to be inside and a dangerous species. I have this "thing" for mosquitoes too, I grow them, i tempt them into laying their eggs in my culture vats and feed their young to my fishes, yes i get satisfaction out of killing baby mosquitoes...

[Arete]

Ants make up 15% of the living organisms on earth. By Weight. Which is pretty amazing, and also about ten times as much as humans make up. So you'd have to be standing on a God awful number of ants to make a measurable difference to the ecosystem as a whole. Physically killing insects by squashing them is probably highly unlikely to make any differences to even a local scale - spraying insecticide everywhere would be a different story.

 

 

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/08/ants/did-you-know-learn

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_%28ecology%29#Global_biomass

[Ringer]

And we see how sadistic this site truly is.

 

Really though I kill about anything that is being overly annoying, which usually includes flies, mosquitoes, ants, etc. Anything that kills the things that I kill are my ally and I leave them to their killing. Unless, of course, my wife sees any of them. I then apologetically kill the mutual predator and try to get my wife to see reason. It hasn't worked yet.

[Thrylix]

Do you really think it is sadistic, though? I don't go out of my way to kill them or chase them around maniacally. It's more like I'll be standing on the sidewalk, look down and see a busy little antmound, and idly plant my foot on it. To me it's as habitual as kicking a rock or an empy soda can on the ground, both of which are equally pointless but are things we do all the same. As to the fate of the ants, I'm really too distanced to care about what they do or don't experience. They are too simple an organism. If there were a tiny intelligent species the size of ants, I maybe wouldn't step on them. ...Maybe.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Thrylix

[CaptainPanic]

Arete, I think the link you provided says that ants make up 15% of terrestrial animal biomass. The bit in italics is pretty necessary.

 

I am not sure we can call ants "simple".

. Totally worth your time. But go to about

to see a true world wonder. A leaf cutter ant city. Because of documentaries like this, I respect ants. If they can build a functioning ventilation system which is the size of a small human house, then they must possess some kind of intelligence, even if we cannot measure it on the same scale as ours.

[Moontanman]

Do you really think it is sadistic, though? I don't go out of my way to kill them or chase them around maniacally. It's more like I'll be standing on the sidewalk, look down and see a busy little antmound, and idly plant my foot on it. To me it's as habitual as kicking a rock or an empy soda can on the ground, both of which are equally pointless but are things we do all the same. As to the fate of the ants, I'm really too distanced to care about what they do or don't experience. They are too simple an organism. If there were a tiny intelligent species the size of ants, I maybe wouldn't step on them. ...Maybe.

 

 

Here in the soouuth we have lots of ants that you don't want to step in their mounds... very bad idea...

[overtone]

A complete lack of curiosity and interest in the natural world is certainly normal, and given no interest in bugs whatsoever their maximum entertainment value is probably as squish victims. The ecological import is probably miniscule.

 

The sets of people who know something about arthropods and people who casually kill them all on sight don't overlap much, though. One might ponder the implications of that.

 

It's probably a good idea, for example, for the casual ant stomper confronted with an actual issue involving insects - garden pests, backyard mosquitos - to consult with knowledgable folks about the best response. For example, the world is full of "bug lights" that don't kill the female mosquitos they were expensively purchased to destroy, instead killing the crane flies and robber flies and other predators of female mosquitos and so providing them with a little oasis free of their enemies, and meanwhile severely depressing entire local populations of luna moths and the like. Maybe there are people who don't find the sight of a big silkworm or sphinx or catacola moth at the window worth the trouble of getting up and going over to see, but not many.

[Thrylix]

That's true. I know little about arthropods. Crabs and spiders are damn ugly and I can't help but see them as sinister for some reason. Ants are ugly too. Which is why I have no real issue killing them.

Edited March 15, 2013 by Thrylix

[CharonY]

Ants are frickin amazing. They are farmers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafcutter_ant, raise aphids as cattle,

 

,

 

engage in slavery (and rebellions) http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/04/01/the-rebellion-of-the-ant-slaves/, developed boating (sort of) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A042J0IDQK4, engage in warfare

,

 

can take on spiders

, or really, about anything http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LE2DSXBOgg, are amazing builders http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLHAdwxLD-I, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O05javlMW6k. Just to name a few things. Edited March 17, 2013 by CharonY

[Iggy]

We have ants here you probably wouldn't want to mess with their hills with out some planning, I like wasps, I tame them, spiders i ignore unless they happen to be inside and a dangerous species. I have this "thing" for mosquitoes too, I grow them, i tempt them into laying their eggs in my culture vats and feed their young to my fishes, yes i get satisfaction out of killing baby mosquitoes...

 

There was a story on TV the other day about giant mosquitoes invading Florida. You know cable news hype. They had a Floridian on saying "They're giants, and they bite you through your cloths, and it feels like being stung by a wasp. There's nothing you can do. It's horrible!"

 

While the Floridian ran off to buy another can of bug repellant they had someone from Georgia or South Carolina on camera. They just said, "Yeah, we got them here. They ain't so bad"

 

Cracked me up. Goes to show that everybody has their own perspective on which insects are acceptable.

 

Edit...

 

here's the story: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/03/10/aggressive-mosquito-may-spread-throughout-florida-in-summer-scientist-says/

 

first link I found

Edited March 22, 2013 by Iggy

[vampares]

Insects are really some of the most diverse animals on the planet. They have intelligence. Last year I had butterflies in my yard. They are so beautiful.

 

But insects are advantageous. Given an environment that is not fully controlled they may find there is the ability to flourish where it is not appropriate, and was not the intention of this world.

 

And so you deter them, kill them, starve them, etc.

 

"Pesticides" are the least understood tools of those who use them. It would surprise you how unaware a pesticide user is of what he or she is doing or what the pesticide does.

 

I kill slugs and worms I see. I am not an ant farm either. But otherwise I have birds and bats who take most. Spiders should not be within my reach.

What would be the logical objection?

 

None other than it is all just part of some other greater world plan ecosystem thing.

Wasps: I just want them out of my immediate vicinity.

 

It's not as bad as you think. Really just curious. Oh wasps. Thought you meant hornets. In your mud sort of a pain.

[techhydra]

In my opinion squashing a bug would have little effect on an ecosystem, even if you made it a point to kill 1 bug everyday of your life. In order to have a dramatic effect on an ecosystem you would have to eradicate thousands or hundreds of thousands of insects routinely to have an impact on the local population (depending on the type of insect of course, in this case I'm thinking of ants).

 

I think the bigger point though is that having respect for insects involves not going out of your way to kill them. Although they might be a minor inconvenience for you in day to day life they are essentially just doing your job. It would be about the equivalent of killing a door to door salesman for interrupting a television show you are watching when he comes knocking. Insects play a vital role in ecosystems and help to micromanage aspects such as cleaning up decaying carcasses, pollinating plants and providing a food source for other animals and living organisms.

 

That being said I'm also guilty of killing bugs, typically ones I find within my house or car as a perceived point of cleanliness however if I'm walking down a sidewalk and notice an insect I'll do my best to avoid killing it during it's daily routine.

[bugman101]

The killing and pest control decimating populations doesn't really effect the largest phyla on the planet making up about 75% of the animal kingdom. There are negatives to killing, spraying, and treating insects. They adapt to every environmental stress they can. Through natural selection, survival of the most fit, and genetics insect generations change and evolve at an alarming rate. Ants for instance are found on every inhabitable landmass on the planet, and have 12,500 documented species with 22,000 or more unknown species.

 

What my mind is constantly wondering is what happens when they master immunity to all pesticides, and so on. All I am trying to say is that killing insects might not have a immediate effect on the ecosystem, but where one insect fails another will rise. This repeats itself indefinitely. The next insect better than the one before it.

Edited June 25, 2013 by CaptainPanic
Turned down the volume. Bright blue and larger font is not necessary.

[Bill Angel]

There was a bad infestation of small insects in the house that I live in. I found that flypaper was very effective in controlling their presence until the return of cold weather killed them off. Not to let a "photo op"" go to waste I made a short video of the insects stuck to the flypaper and set to music.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Bill Angel

[Delbert]

Insects are all part of the ecosystem - doubtless in ways that we don't understand or even have any knowledge of.

 

I understand someone once said: when man mess with nature, nature will get him in the end.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Delbert

[EdEarl]

Some roaches have evolved to avoid sugar based insecticide baits, by sensing sugar as bitter.

 

I think ants that come into my house have also evolved in this way.

Edited July 12, 2013 by EdEarl

[Delong]

I think it's immoral to kill bugs if they're not egregiously bothering you. Even though they are less sentient than us perhaps they still have some basic will to live and avoidance to dying. It doesn't seem right to just step on some ants or flies or something. I walk around them or if they're in my house I leave them alone or shove them outside. If you we're talking about bacteria I wouldn't mind. Their life is so lowly it can hardly be considered immoral to kill them capriciously. I like to kill a lot whenever I sterilize something.

[overtone]

I think ants that come into my house have also evolved in this way.

Long ago. There are grease ants and sugar ants, they're different species and they tend to go for different stuff on average.

[Thrylix]

The killing and pest control decimating populations doesn't really effect the largest phyla on the planet making up about 75% of the animal kingdom. There are negatives to killing, spraying, and treating insects. They adapt to every environmental stress they can. Through natural selection, survival of the most fit, and genetics insect generations change and evolve at an alarming rate. Ants for instance are found on every inhabitable landmass on the planet, and have 12,500 documented species with 22,000 or more unknown species.

 

What my mind is constantly wondering is what happens when they master immunity to all pesticides, and so on. All I am trying to say is that killing insects might not have a immediate effect on the ecosystem, but where one insect fails another will rise. This repeats itself indefinitely. The next insect better than the one before it.

 

Can they adapt to the sole of my foot, though?