If spiders were extinct.

Hi! Today I'm going to talk about a world without spiders. Imagine a world without spiders. Sounds nice, huh? Actually, it would be a world catastrophe.

See, spiders are the one of the top predators for mosquitoes. In fact, some scientists think all the bugs eaten by spiders in the world would weigh more than all the people in the world! That is a lot of mosquitoes. Does this news change your mind about spiders? If not, I'll just have to continue.

One morning, you get out of bed. You go down the stairs, and look out the window. Sure enough, there's your newspaper outside. You go outside, and pick it up. You go inside and open the newspaper. Here's the headlines: Newsflash: Spiders have gone extinct!
Yippee! You think. You sink in your chair, and start to read the funnies. Nobody expects a great disaster.....

The disaster is one word: Mosquitoes. The annoying pest has made a violent move. Without spiders, the mosquitoes have sprung back to dangerous numbers. Everyone bravely grabs there bug sprays, and spray it at the enemies (Or in this case mosquitoes). The mosquito problem seems to go down. But something major is happening, that no one notices.

Bats, toads, and frogs are a few of the mosquitoes' main predators. But there's a problem. That problem is pollution. Pollution has a huge effect on these mosquito loving creatures.

There is a disease for bats called White Nose disease, which is caused by pollution. This disease kills any bat that has it. Another problem that bats face is habitat destruction, (which doesn't really have to do anything with pollution, but still is a big problem for bats).

Frogs and toads have a special skin that allows them to breath air and absorb water through it. But the skin also allows toxins, pesticides, and acid rain, from polluted air, and water into the frog or toad. Frogs and toads also face habitat destruction, UV radiation, (which kills frog and toad eggs, or deforms the frogs and toads that survive), and predators.

See the problem?

Well, when you spray the mosquitoes, the mosquitoes don't die immediately. They are still alive, and when a frog, bat, or toad finds it, they eat it thinking it's dinner. Of course, this poisons the creature that eats the mosquito. So with this terrible thing happening, the bats, frogs, and toads become extinct.

Now, without any top predator to worry about, there are more mosquitoes. That makes more, and more people grab for their spray bottles, and spray the mosquitoes. This makes all of the mosquitoes' predators die out. Now, with no predators to stop it, the mosquito multiplies, and multiplies, until it starts to take over.

While people put there concerns on this problem, another is occurring. All the animals that depended on the mosquitoes' predators are dieing out. All the animals that depended on those animals are starting to die out too. It's like dominoes. Once one domino falls, they all fall. That's why we should be more careful about what we do.

Now have you changed your mind? For the good of all of us, spiders should be alive.

Chiara.