Are malaria-transmitting Anopheles mosquitoes important for pollination in Africa?

Category: Gene Drive Safety

No. Mosquitoes obtain sugar as a source of energy from a variety of different sources, including flowers. In visiting flowers, they may occasionally pick up and transmit pollen. However, in tropical or subtropical regions of the world these flowers will also be visited by many other insect species, including those better adapted for pollination than mosquitoes. There is no experimental or circumstantial evidence that Anopheles or Aedes mosquitoes are important pollinators in Africa, making it extremely unlikely that elimination of these mosquitoes would have negative effect on local plant communities.

For more information:

https://www.geneconvenevi.org/pollination-of-plants-by-disease-vectors-a-risk-assessment/#tab-id-1
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbopRNGowKJ_z1k9Sqxt26ONibFCjlgKe

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