If you could snap your fingers and render one species globally extinct, would you?

Who’s our member here, the stunningly handsome bird researcher from New Jersey who’s name starts with I think a “B”? She gonna come tousle your hair with some proper science!

I’d go with rats, damn the weaponized (re)percussions.

But Would Are Eco Sytem be Ok If We Extincted Mosquitos?

I still miss the guy-- I hope nobody’s gotten his ya.

For those of you who do not know what the hell I’m talking about-- the only poster I know who got banned for being stupid on purpose.
Oh wait! There was another! This other was banned for pretending to be stupid.

Heh, good ol’ WB. Damn but that title was hard to read.

Homo Sapiens.

Completely serious.

I think I’m with the few opting to eradicate humans (this act, of course, would take an unlikely moment of lack of sense of self preservation). We’re not terribly well balanced in terms of the ecosystem and if one species could go that would do the best for the most other species, well. The nasty viruses and such are nasty but part of a balanced setup in the big scheme of things-- only a problem in overpopulated groups-- but we humans tip the balances too much with our fancy big brains and opposable thumbs.

Die, they must die, the pandas must die;
Die, they must die, the pandas must die!

All endangered species leave endangered feces;
If you knew how bad they smelt, you would gladly take their pelt!

I’m a bit surprised nobody’s mentioned fireants yet. I guess most of you have never had to deal with 'em.

After living all of my life in Texas, one of the things I love most about living in the Pacific Northwest is being able to lay down on the lawn without having to worry about whether there’s a fireant nest within sight.

The absence of two inch long cockroaches is probably nice too. :frowning:

Ditto.

I think wiping out mosquitoes would have too large a ripple effect on other species (birds who feed on them, and the like). My vote is for the Guinea worm. Nasty fuckers, those, and other species don’t depend on them to my knowledge.

Her user name is brachyrhynchos, which she takes from the scientific term for the American crow.

Bedbugs. Die, all of you.

I’d rather have an infestation of just about anything else. (Including wiener dogs, actually.)

Malaria’s getting a lot of hate in this thread. What about tuberculosis? I think it’s the disease that kills the most people.

It’s not snapping the fingers, but global monogamy would wipe out HIV in a single generation. Go ahead and have lots of sex, of any kind and any position with any gender, but just keep it within one partner.

Just sayin’.

I just read the Guinea worm link. Kill it, kill it now, yesterday would be preferable.

I’d get rid of yeast.

Are you INSANE!!!

No bread and, most of all, no beer!

Yes, life would suck without yeast, but if it has to suck for me it has to suck for everyone else too.

Another vote for humans. The world wasn’t a paradise before we took over, but it would be better off without us now.

Yep, I’d eliminate humans. They’re a blight on the landscape, and I would have no regrets in doing so.

Unless it counted as murder, but as any killing is tantamount to similar I guess I’m being given the absolved freedom to do it.