So they had two full years with a 99% reduction in mosquitos? Shit, even if it doesn’t last, sign me up for that!
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In ecology context is everything
Some years are different than other. Last five years were particularly hot and 2020 was the hottest year registered.
Not to mention the wildfires, or the speeding deliberate destruction of the rainforest in the last four years.
Removing trees will remove the rainclouds created by those same trees, and removing the rain means that the place will dry and eventually become arid. Not surprises here.
In both cases we can expect some effect on an animal that breeds on temporary rain pools and lagoons.
Thus, the alleged effect of modified mosquitoes can be zero, or much lower than we think. This effect will be temporary, because mosquitoes are facing similar problems and dry spells for millions of years and they still somehow survived.
That would be weird to go from 1% for 2 years to 100% in an instant. Instead, I will say confidently that it was 1% for an instant, growing to 100% over two years.
I’d still take it!
I wonder what the eradication program entailed.
I don't remember which country it was. I think it was an African country, but I'm not sure. I did find an article [1] about the (failed) eradication of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in Brazil, that contains the following quote:
> In 1973, the Pan American Health Organization again declared that Brazil was Aedes-free. The second official eradication period did not last long. In 1976 and 1977, A. aegypti was found in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, Bahia, and then in nearly all the Brazilian states.
So, at least three years in their case. Seems you need to eradicate the mosquito from all the neighboring countries as well, otherwise they'll just fly in and fill the void. If you're interested in what they did to declare Brazil Aedes-free (twice), the full article is worth a read: