Climate has absolutely nothing to do with this discovery. All of the other Northern countries, many of which are colder than Iceland, already have mosquitoes (Greenland has lots of them!). Culiseta annulata is well adapted to cold climate. And it's not even particularly cold in Iceland at this time of year – the mosquitoes may not even have needed to survive a winter yet!
> Climate has absolutely nothing to do with this discovery
That’s difficult to conclude. It could have everything to do with warming North Atlantic ocean winds. Where they were previously deadly to mosquitoes, now they might not be.
We have insufficient evidence either way. The article is wrong conclude as it did. But it’s equally wrong to conclude based on their mistake that the opposite is true.
No it's really not. Northern Canada is infested with mosquitos and it's one of the coldest climates on earth. This has nothing to do with global warming.
Mosquitos are adapted to long, cold winters and they're also extremely common just over the water in Greenland. Mosquitos have had literally centuries of opportunity to colonize it. They've simply failed every time.
What I've always been told is that Icelandic winter danced around the freezing point enough that mosquitos weren't able to overwinter effectively. The larvae would hatch prematurely thinking it was spring and be killed by another freeze before they could get a foothold.
That hypothesis relies on a pretty careful climatic balance though. Clearly it's hit a point where some parts of the country can now support endemic populations. My wife swears she was attacked by them when I took her to meet my grandparents a couple years ago, which I was quite resistant to believing at the time vs the similarly annoying midges. Maybe she was right?
>The larvae would hatch prematurely thinking it was spring and be killed by another freeze before they could get a foothold.
This happens in Minnesota which can have really intense mosquito seasons. If you have a few very warm early spring days followed by a good freeze, especially if this happens a few times, you'll have a year with barely any mosquitos instead of swarms.
When I was a kid in the 1980's I had a classmate from Iceland who was very smug about them not having mosquitoes there.
The Nordic varieties of mosquito are not known to carry any diseases, but the sting itches. Authorities in these countries sometimes poison wetlands where mosquito populations would otherwise grow large enough to become a public nuisance in summer.
I have no basis for this, but I think this is also based on personal genetics or similar. Most of the bites I get seem to create no bumps or itchiness at all. When i was a kid, that wasn't the same, but now in my late 30s it seems to no phase me.
It's not completely true that the mosquitos don't carry things here. We do have something called Tularemia [1] (Harpest). Also it seems the first mosquitos for the season are more potent that later during the year.
And for personal anecdotal evidence, my wife gets more problems with mosquitos here than I do. When we visit her home country I get more problems than she does.
LMK when it gets bad enough that you feel a mosquito biting your leg and slap it, and you end up killing twenty of the little buggers and blood all over your hand.
But seriously, mozzies suck and I hope it's not Iceland's future. On the other side of the world here, in some parts it is getting too hot and dry for much in the way of mozzies. Not sure if that is a good thing either though.
I’m sorry Iceland. :( Mosquitoes are the absolute worst. I have to cover myself in picaridin anytime I go outside in the summer where I live. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
I needed my wife's help lugging a TV into my house from the sidewalk to the living room a few weeks ago. She wasn't out even fifteen minutes, and she got at least twenty separate mosquito bites on her legs.
For whatever reason, mosquitos almost never bite me. I don't know if it's just because I'm pretty hairy, or if I have the gene that makes me less appealing to them, but I am thankful every day that I don't have to deal with it.
They never sting me or land on me. My friends hate me as when on trips, they get attacked all the time and have spray and smear all kinds of crap on them, while I have nothing. Never had. Not sure how it works.
This garbage article is a great example of why NPR taxpayer funding should never be restored. Ridiculous, unsubstantiated claim here. No evidence whatsoever of any link to climate change is presented. These mosquitoes came via ship and are thus like any other invasive species. Mosquitoes flourish in Siberia, Greenland, Canada, and the northernmost parts of Alaska, all places hundreds of miles north of the Arctic circle.
If you read the source article, it mentions in passing at the end that Iceland in general has seen more insects lately, partly due to climate change. It doesn't connect the mosquitos themselves to climate change. But the NPR article does indeed incorrectly connect the two. "taxpayer funding should never be restored" seems a bit of a histrionic reaction to this sloppy reporting, however.
There’s probably been a constant flow of mosquitoes to Iceland via trade for decades, but they weren’t able to establish before. You’re right though, the article could have done better showing the link.
They're just reporting what the institute said. You sound very angry.
>The institute noted that the mosquitoes were one of a number of new insect species discovered in Iceland in recent years due to a warming climate and the growth of international transportation.
Well obviously they didn’t spontaneously manifest there and were imported somehow. But perhaps they are gaining a foothold know when they might lot have 100 years ago?
There were similar such comments during Covid where people were saddened that people were still debating whether it was a lab-leak or not. Dogmatism, on which ever side, unless maybe in a field like mathematics which is entirely deductive, is not good.
Sting ?? They bite, and given a chance will engorge on one's blood. Pretty sure they came after Adam's bite, so I guess as a form of Eden-ruining punishment that makes sense.
That’s difficult to conclude. It could have everything to do with warming North Atlantic ocean winds. Where they were previously deadly to mosquitoes, now they might not be.
We have insufficient evidence either way. The article is wrong conclude as it did. But it’s equally wrong to conclude based on their mistake that the opposite is true.
What I've always been told is that Icelandic winter danced around the freezing point enough that mosquitos weren't able to overwinter effectively. The larvae would hatch prematurely thinking it was spring and be killed by another freeze before they could get a foothold.
That hypothesis relies on a pretty careful climatic balance though. Clearly it's hit a point where some parts of the country can now support endemic populations. My wife swears she was attacked by them when I took her to meet my grandparents a couple years ago, which I was quite resistant to believing at the time vs the similarly annoying midges. Maybe she was right?
This happens in Minnesota which can have really intense mosquito seasons. If you have a few very warm early spring days followed by a good freeze, especially if this happens a few times, you'll have a year with barely any mosquitos instead of swarms.
The Nordic varieties of mosquito are not known to carry any diseases, but the sting itches. Authorities in these countries sometimes poison wetlands where mosquito populations would otherwise grow large enough to become a public nuisance in summer.
And for personal anecdotal evidence, my wife gets more problems with mosquitos here than I do. When we visit her home country I get more problems than she does.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tularemia
[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2uH96a3RP0
Apparently they don’t once your immune system gets used to them. But this usually takes lots of exposure when young.
But seriously, mozzies suck and I hope it's not Iceland's future. On the other side of the world here, in some parts it is getting too hot and dry for much in the way of mozzies. Not sure if that is a good thing either though.
And before you lose your shit just think about it. Would me bringing a penguin to central America on a plane be evidence of global cooling?
For whatever reason, mosquitos almost never bite me. I don't know if it's just because I'm pretty hairy, or if I have the gene that makes me less appealing to them, but I am thankful every day that I don't have to deal with it.
>The institute noted that the mosquitoes were one of a number of new insect species discovered in Iceland in recent years due to a warming climate and the growth of international transportation.
I guess you both grew up really enjoying that one episode of South Park and just can't let go?