Bedbugs And Mosquitoes Are Evolving Within Urban Environments
Bedbugs And Mosquitoes Are Evolving Within Urban Environments
Cramped and overpopulated cities are not for everybody. Then again, it seems like everybody on the planet is in a mad rush to move away from the tranquil countryside and into the hectic chaos of big cities. Considering the fact that urbanization is a new and rapidly increasing trend, it seems obvious that densely populated metropolises will have an adverse effect on the natural environment. For example, our world’s forests and other ecologically important ecosystems are being displaced by increasing urbanization. More and more animals that depend on resources that are only available within the natural environment will become extinct. Big cities are also ecosystems, and of course, some animals can adapt to city life. However, the animals that are adapting to city life are probably not the types of animals that you would miss if they disappeared. Studies are demonstrating that cockroaches, mosquitoes and bedbugs are evolving to survive in the concrete jungle. Unfortunately, these insects are evolving in a manner that could be harmful to humans, especially when they are all crammed into one small space like a city.
In big cities like New York, Paris and London, buildings that are located right next to each other can be infested with entirely different species of cockroaches and bedbugs. This is due to the original insect invaders coming from different environments. In fact some of these common building-dwelling insect species may have originated in different parts of the world. Many of the insect species that have been documented in big cities are genetically distinct from insects that have remained within their natural habitat. These urban insect dwellers are struggling to survive the big city life just like humans. This makes urban environments unique since many different insects are coming into contact with each other when they otherwise would not have. By creating big cities, humans are creating new urban ecosystems that will host new forms of insect life.
Surprisingly new insect life-forms are already appearing. Some species of mosquitoes that dwell in the London subway system have evolved to produce babies despite not feeding on blood. Other mosquitoes cannot do this. Also, the bedbug population has grown to the point where people living in urban areas can now see these bugs inhabiting seat cushions on buses and trains. If that is not bad enough, these urban bedbugs cannot be killed with normal eradication methods. Soon these dreadful bugs will become a part of everyday life in big cities all over the globe.
Do you think that mosquitoes dwelling within urban areas can evolve to transmit entirely new forms of disease?