2y ago

What animal or insect going extinct would have the greatest impact on the ecosystem?

Curious on some replies here. I always hear having bees go extinct would be horrible for us. Curious if that’s the worse?

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Humans, probably. Just look at the impact COVID had on the environment.
- Yeah, runaway global warming might not happen. Plant monocultures would begin to disappear. New invasive species wouldn’t happen, though existing ones might have a better time for a bit. Major thoroughfares wouldn’t create barriers to migration. Dams might take centuries to collapse, but I think humans going extinct might have one of the biggest impacts.
Ever wondered what happened to all these bugs on the car when driving through the countryside? There is already something big happening and we are just getting started.
Here is a talk on the topic of insects driven to the point of extinction due to neonicotinoid pesticides (unfortunately the talk is in german. Maybe someone is able to find a english version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_p9yYXZuCI
Bees
- Or the hounds? Or the hounds the when they bark, shoot bees out of their mouth?
Phytoplankton
- Definitely the phytoplankton since it provides the bulk of Earth's oxygen production. Oxygen only exists because the ecosystem replenishes it. If all oxygen production stopped it would only take a few thousand years to deplete completely. Oxygen binds quickly with everything around it.
- It's true, but Phytoplankton is not an animal.
- Real answer here
Humans going extinct would probably be the most beneficial.
- For whom?
  
  Bees
Bees probably
Humans going extinct would probably have an enormous impact.
Bees and coral are both great answers, but I’m going to go with spiders. The amount of smaller pest insects that spiders consume is definitely overlooked and without them just imagine the swarms of bugs that would aggregate during the summer months
Birds

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