In the quoted text below, Michael Cooperman says only that whatever chemical Conor's county uses to control mosquitoes probably affects other insects as strongly as it affects mosquitoes. The implication is that he agrees it's plausible that the chemical used to control mosquitoes near Alamosa would result in decreased abundances of non-target species (grasshoppers, bees, and frogs).
If he wanted to publish that statement, I'd say he would need proof that (1) some kind of chemical spray is used near Alamosa to reduce the abundance of mosquitoes, and (2) some chemical sprays people use to reduce the abundance of mosquitoes also reduce the abundances of non-target species (preferably including citations specific to any particular species he might mention). He would only need to prove that the abundances of grasshoppers, bees, frogs, and mosquitoes had declined near Alamosa, and that chemical sprays were the cause of these declines, if he'd actually said these things. If he did, it's not in the quote below. In any case, since Michael's statement is not in a scientific paper, but rather on an internet forum, I don't think the same standards apply. Yes, it's best to keep your critical thinking cap on when replying to something on Ecolog, but if we had to cite sources or conduct original research for every statement we made here, who would bother? Might as well apply that same effort to writing peer-reviewed publications. Jim Crants On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 11:10 AM, Paul Cherubini <[email protected]> wrote: > Conor_Flynn wrote: > > > we've noticed something interesting: there are no > > mosquitoes in or near Alamosa. This is because the > > city sprays for them regularly. We have also noticed > > fewer grasshoppers, bees, and frogs than we might > > otherwise expect. > > Michael Cooperman wrote: > > > I don't know what chemical your county uses for mosquito > > control but probably it is not specific to mosquitoes and > > would affect other insects just as strongly. > > Interesting these comments suggesting great harm to > both mosquitoes and non-target insects appeared just after > Mitch Cruzan said: "Critical thinking/reading is a primary goal > of all graduate programs and is something we introduce > undergraduates to in advanced courses." > > A critical thinker would say it wildly speculative for anyone to > claim, without extensive direct evidence, that: > > 1) There really are no mosquitoes and fewer grasshoppers, bees, > and frogs in Alamosa, Colorado. > > 2) Mosquito spraying is the underlying cause of these declines. > > Paul Cherubini > El Dorado, Calif. >
