Mosquitoes bite people in almost all countries around the world. But are there countries that do not have this blood pest?
The answer is “yes”, there is a country without mosquitoes: Iceland. While its neighbors – notably Norway, Scotland and Greenland – are home to multiple mosquito species, Iceland remains without mosquitoes. (It should be noted, Antarctica is also without mosquitoBut the south of the continent is not a country.)
So how is it possible for Iceland not to have mosquitoes?
Scientists have several theories. An idea is that mosquitoes have simply not yet arrived in Iceland. The island nation is separated from its neighbors by hundreds of kilometers from ocean, creating a natural barrier that makes mosquitoes difficult to arrive in flight.
However, mosquitoes are transported aboard the planes. Gísli Már GíslasonA professor emeritus of limnology (the study of lakes and fresh water) at the University of Iceland, confirmed it after capture A mosquito on a flight from Greenland to Iceland. In addition, mosquitoes can survive for hours on the planes landing gear, even at dizzying temperatures, he said in a interview With Reykavík Grapevine, a publication in English in Iceland, in 2017.
So if the mosquitoes have arrived, why did they not establish populations?
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Gíslason explain It is unlikely that a lack of appropriate reproduction habitats. Iceland has a lot of ponds and marshes near its airports – ideal places for mosquitoes to lay the eggs. Instead, the most likely explanation is Iceland’s severe climate.
A life cycle of a mosquito consists of four steps: egg, larva, pupa (like a caterpillar chrysalis) and adult. Adult mosquitoes lay their eggs in the water. These eggs hatch in larvae, which develop in the pupae. An adult mosquito then emerges from Pupa.
Robert JonesAn insect biologist and assistant teacher at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told Live Science that mosquito larvae require liquid water not to be derogated to develop. In extremely cold regions such as the Canadian Arctic, some mosquito species survive by entering the dormancy at the stage of the eggs, where they can withstand months of frozen water.
“In warmer areas, like some parts of Central Europe, mosquitoes can survive winter Like eggs or larvae in relatively sheltered water bodies that do not freeze, or as an adult hidden in burrows and other protected sites, “he said.
Iceland’s climate is between the two winters and the frequent cycles of gel-degel autumn And spring Gry, melt and cool several times. “These cycles disrupt development and kill eggs and mosquito larvae before being able to emerge as adults, which makes people to establish much more difficult,” said Jones.
Although Iceland’s geothermal swimming pools remain not to delegates in winter, their temperatures can be too hot for larvae of all kinds of mosquito adapted to high latitudes. “In addition, the chemical composition of geothermal waters is probably not suitable for the development of mosquitoes,” he said.
However, with climate changeIceland’s without mosquito status may not last forever. Jones noted that warmer springs and falls could create longer non -frozen standard water periods, allowing mosquitoes to establish permanent populations.
IMMO HansenProfessor of biology at the New Mexico State University, agrees. “We are currently seeing tropical mosquitoes extending their range to the north in the United States,” he told Live Science, largely because this region The winters warm up.
If the mosquitoes end up spreading in Iceland, it would not be the first time that a mosquito without mosquito will have disappeared. Hawaii, the most isolated archipelago in the world, was without mosquito until 1826When European and American ships inadvertently presented them. Thanks to Hawaii favorable climateThe mosquitoes prospered and spread quickly through the islands. Since then, climate change has pushed mosquitoes into Hawaii higher elevation forests which were once cool for them to survive.
Despite the potential for mosquitoes to arrive in Iceland, the risk of species carrying disease – like those of Cashier genre, known to transmit diseases such as dengue And Chikungunya – establishing there remains low because these insects need tropical and subtropical climates to survive, said Jones. While southern Europe is facing increased risks of such epidemics due to climate change and modern transport, “modeling studies suggest that northern Europe will remain largely unsuitable for the transmission of dengue even by 2080,” he said.
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