rochaes

August 16, 2005 4:51 PM

Let's say we came up with a new pesticide that could kill all the world's cockroaches. Would there be any negative effects? (e.g., the food chain, etc.) Are there any reasons we should love cockroaches?
posted by jgballard to science & nature (18 comments total)

OK, if you say so, we need roaches. But do we need mosquitos?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:14 PM on August 16, 2005

Well, cockroaches have their own life to lead. IMHO it's wrong to obliterate a species because it is convenient to do so. Ya cockroach.
posted by fire&wings at 5:15 PM on August 16, 2005

No.

I could tell you that roaches act as part of the decomposition portion of the food chain and tell you exactly how important they really are, but I refuse to defend those creatures.

I feel the same way about mosquitoes.
posted by Moral Animal at 5:15 PM on August 16, 2005

ok, but as others have said, what about mosquitos?

Its not like we need them to spread diseases, because we can do that by ourselfs.
posted by Iax at 5:40 PM on August 16, 2005

if you could kill all the cockroaches, something else would take its place. (e.g. pigeons. running around inside your walls. coming out to crap all over you and your stuff.)

what you'd need to do is eliminate the actual role/niche of the cockroaches... seems a damned sight harder than killing them all.
posted by dorian at 5:54 PM on August 16, 2005

The fact that cockroaches are so diverse (4,000 - 7,000 species) live almost everywhere (except the artic and antarctic ice caps) and are so numerous suggests that they are not disposable and fill some important niches. In fact, only very few cockroaches are pests - for instance, of the 400-odd species found in Australia, only 5 are considered pests. Most do not carry disease, and the fact that they eat all the detrirus lying around in your darkened corners may actually be helpful.
posted by Jimbob at 6:19 PM on August 16, 2005

Cockroaches are decomposers, feeding primarily on dead things and recycling water, nutrients and energy back into the local ecosystem. They would absolutely be missed. Did you try a basic search for cockroach info? The Cockroach FAQ has a good answer to "What are cockroaches good for?"
posted by mediareport at 7:42 PM on August 16, 2005

Just to start you off, these wouldn't be too happy:
The Philippine Tarsier, Lizards, Ferret badgers, Praying Mantis.
You can Google the rest for yourself.
posted by tellurian at 9:14 PM on August 16, 2005

There is nothing a cockroach can do that another species can't. "Exterminate the brutes!"
posted by davy at 10:25 PM on August 16, 2005

What would Mehitabel do without Archie?
posted by uspommie at 11:40 PM on August 16, 2005 [1 favorite]

There is nothing a cockroach can do that another species can't.

Riiiiight. And quick extermination won't have unforseen consequences for the formerly-cockroach-rich environment. You're being a deliberately goofy moron, davy, which is usually frowned upon in AskMe. Did you think this was MeFi or something?
posted by mediareport at 11:56 PM on August 16, 2005

Something I considered regarding a local problem with excess seaweed may have a similar application here.

I considered the possibility of introducing a sequence of genes (via a viral vector) into a specific host, which transcribe for either a host-specific toxin, or a particular gene transcription repressor.

In normal circumstances, the quantity of product of the gene doesn't harm the host (or the environment, or other organisms), but when there is a large concentration in the environment - for example there's a large population of roaches, or a dense mat of seaweed - then the toxin/repressor takes effect and begins to terminate some of the organisms.

As the population then declines, the concentration of the toxin/repressor in the environment falls, allowing the population to grow.

Kind of like a population-moderation gene, I suppose - and will act in a similar way to a predator/prey population lifecycle...

Don't know if it's possible - during my biochemistry degree it seemed plausible, but I didn't look into it in much more detail...
posted by Chunder at 3:59 AM on August 17, 2005

Obliterate mosquitoes and you'll see a calamitous drop in many insect-eating amphibians.
posted by sid at 8:00 AM on August 17, 2005

Yes there would most certainly be negative effects.

I am aghast at the naivety of this question (and some of the answers). Good lord! Have you no idea how interconnected everything is? I highly recommend some basic googling of ecosystems.
posted by Specklet at 9:19 AM on August 17, 2005

if you could kill all the cockroaches, something else would take its place. (e.g. pigeons. running around inside your walls. coming out to crap all over you and your stuff.)
I'll take the pigeons. And yes, I know about interconnectivity - but I can dream.
*sigh*
posted by Radio7 at 10:00 AM on August 17, 2005

I am aghast at the naivety of this question

Don't be insulting. It's a perfectly good question, one that I'm sure many of us have wondered about. Not all of us are ecologists, you know. Yes, everything is interconnected; that still doesn't explain the function of the cockroach in the scheme of things and what exactly would be disrupted if the cockroaches all vanished. If you know, explain; if you don't, STFU. Thank you.
posted by languagehat at 11:48 AM on August 17, 2005

I have no problems with the roaches, even though they can be found in my area. Mostly they are found in homes that are filthy or not properly bugproofed. If I had a problem in my home I would take the necessary steps to deal with them but wouldn't try and nuke them from the neighborhood. I seriously doubt if it's possible to completely get rid of them everywhere even with the marvels of modern biochemistry.
posted by JJ86 at 8:24 AM on August 18, 2005

My understanding is that nuking them would not work. They are supposedly capable of surviving a nuclear war.

Here's a roach tidbit: when they get chilled, they forget. Which is why they are less of a problem in Maine than in Florida. If I recall correctly, the amnesia-inducing temperature is around 40F (5C).
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:26 AM on August 18, 2005