I’ll just edit instead!

  • root@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Bed bugs.

    Positive outcome would be no more having to burn contaminted possessions (or wash them in very hot water many times).

  • hanni@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    I know you said that we shouldn’t say humans but I’m gonna say it anyway:

    Humans.

    Sorry.

    • CameronDev@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Would be interesting to tally up the negative impacts of removing humans as well.

      Culls of invasive species would no longer occur, which would be detrimental in those ecosystems.

      A fairly significant number of endangered animals probably only exist today due to human intervention and breeding programs (i am well aware that we probably made them endangered in the first place)

      Cross breeds would be done as well, Ligers and Mules require humans for breeding. Although in fairness they are definitely not natural to begin with.

      Many animals we have domesticated would be done for as well, most smaller dogs are completely, reliant on humans for food and grooming. Many cats would be okay, but some breeds are likely dead ends as well. Jersey cows would probably have a bad time as well, without milking, sheep might have issues as well?

      Interesting thought experiment.

      • Deebster@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, this is a good topic. I can add a few:

        Short term, pets in houses, farm animals, etc will need to escape and start fending for themselves otherwise they’ll starve (or dehydrate).. Oops, I’d somehow missed an entire paragraph of your post 🤦‍♂️ Sheep need us to trim their wool, because we’ve bred them up grow fair more than they need. They’ll get too hot if they don’t have problems with defecation first (an actual thing farmers have to worry about).

        Medium to long term, when dams and dikes aren’t maintained they’ll eventually fail, flooding vast areas including the Netherlands.

        I guess that the world will continue heating for a bit even once we’re gone, so we wouldn’t be around to theoretically use our tech to help. Obviously, we’re the reason it’s happening in the first place, but nature’s not equipped to deal with change that’s this rapid.

        • Yes, most of those we created through breeding, but you could argue that wolves and coyotes created modern deer the same way.

          I do wonder if many would go extinct in the medium term from predation, before they can evolve fast enough to adapt; I’m thinking farm pigs and chickens would be OK in the short term - they don’t need us to survive - but wild dogs/coyotes/wolves, large cats like the NA lions, raptors, foxes… they’d all be putting a lot of pressure on those mostly defenseless breeds. Pigs are not wild hogs. Cattle and horses exist just fine in their environments without humans. Even with predation, herds are large and they aren’t defenseless.

          Sheep are an exception; like you said, they need us to perform maintenance because of how we’ve bred them. Are there others?

          • Monkey With A Shell@lemmy.socdojo.com
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            1 year ago

            My thoughts go to a lot of our stored and operational fuel supplies. Nuclear fuel (both civil and weapon) would eventually become exposed through lack of storage container maintinance and cooling starting meltdown reactions in their localized environments. Oil extraction, distribution, and refining systems are automated to an extent but somewhere a tank is going ng to rupture or just run out of space and then it’s all getting into the environment, likely at sea to have what effects that may cause.

      • Turun@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Good point! Within a few weeks billions of animals would die. Chicken, pigs, cows, cats and dogs.

        We definitely need to clarify what “good for the planet” means if we want to decide on the best answer.

    • uphillbothways@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Humans are the only species that would ask a question like this with ecologically damning effects. So, yeah.

    • rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I’m going to provide one very important reasons it would be disastrous to the ecosystem if humans were suddenly deleted from the Earth: what happens to the many currently active nuclear reactors? And what happens when Chernobyl’s sarcophagus finally corrodes entirely and exposes that radioactive blight to the entirety of Europe and central Asia? Probably nothing good is the answer.

      • cole@lemdro.id
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        1 year ago

        I would be willing to put money on “likely nothing” being the answer for active nuclear reactors. They’re highly automated from a safety perspective these days. I’d be more worried about chemical plants

        • rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          That’s a good point, too. My general idea was we have certain things we’ve created that we can’t leave unchecked or else it might be disastrous for the environment. Human infrastructure expects humans to exist.

  • greedytacothief@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Ticks.

    They seem to just make everything worse, and I don’t think anything only eats ticks. Not to mention the diseases they carry.

  • phorq@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Canadian Geese, the animal that Canada stored all its rage inside and sent to battle the United States

  • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I hate to say it, but getting rid of mosquitos would probably have bigger consequences than that. The females are the only ones sucking blood, the males on the other hand help pollinate plants, exterminating them could potentially affect our food production lines…

    … But not gonna lie I’d still genocide the fuckers, ecological damage be damned.

  • bulwark@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m off the opinion that no animal would be beneficial to remove. In almost every instance where we have exterminated a species there has been negative unanticipated consequences. Even mosquitos and bed bugs, there are predators that eat them and subsequent predators that eat them and so on. It’s kind of like the butterfly effect. It’s a balance formed from eons of coexistence that is not to be tampered with. There is so many examples where scientists try to introduce an animal to exterminate another that has gone horribly wrong. Regardless of my opinion, all living things have a part in our world. I’m not a vegetarian btw, but I do use Arch.

  • Kalash@feddit.ch
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    1 year ago

    Pandas. I mean, they really don’t seem like they want to exist in the first place. And China get’s to finally shut up about them.

    • Otter@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      they really don’t seem like they want to exist

      Alternatively, they’re at peace and content with their existence. At least that’s what it seems like to me, goals really

  • SomeBoyo@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Mosquitoes are pollinators. Sucking blood and being annoying is only a small part of their functionality.

  • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Most positive effects on the planet but not humans?
    Cattle, they’re a major source of greenhouse gasses, as are all the industries built around growing, processing, and transporting them.

      • isame [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Surely something else can be eaten. And there are many species of mosquito that do not eat human blood. I think we can nuke the species that does and still get by.

        Perhaps I’m under informed here.

        • mustardman [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          I think we can nuke the species that does and still get by.

          I think people in China had similar ideas about sparrows… Nature is immensely complex and I can’t think of a single instance in which human Intervention improved anything at all

          • isame [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            That’s fair. I’m entirely uninformed on the sparrows but I do understand nature is an endlessly complex system which we do not and probably can not ever truly understand. Not trying to be absolutist.

            But I do wish death on every blood sucking mosquito.

  • 0x4E4F@infosec.pub
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    1 year ago

    Cockroaches… as far as I’m aware, they don’t contribute anything to the eco system, they’re just pests.

    Unfortunatelly, not even a nuclear war can erradicate them 😒.

    • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      ‘Cockroach’ encompasses a wide range of species, the majority of which have no interest in living in a human’s home, and contribute to the work of decomposition on the forest floor. Many smaller predators also eat them.

    • kot [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      They are extremely important for getting rid of dead things. Everything contributes to the ecosystem, except invasive species, OP’s premise is impossible to begin with.

      • 0x4E4F@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        Like really? Even pest cocroaches, they eat dead flesh 🤨? Cuz I thought they only went after good food (not rotten).

        • kot [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          They don’t just eat dead animals, they also eat dead plant matter. Humans decided that some animals are “pests” because they don’t like having them around for one reason or another.

          • 0x4E4F@infosec.pub
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            1 year ago

            My main concern is hygene, nothing more (spread of jerms and viruses)… other than that, I have no problem living with all sorts of insects.

            I was in Egypt once and stayed in a trailer in the middle of the desert (long story 😂). Anyway, the trailer was kinda dusty, so I decided to clean it a little bit. I pull the bed, a big fucking spider underneath it… OK, I guess we’re not cleaning inder the bed 😂. Pull a drawer, a scorpio inside… OK… so, that about sums up my cleaning for the day 🤣.

            My point is, I wasn’t scared of them. They attack only of you do stuff to them, you stay out of their way, they won’t do amything to you ☺️.

    • VapeNoir [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      One of the proposed explanations for the recent explosion in bed bug populations is the fact that pesticides have become more effective at eliminating cockroaches, which are predators of bed bug eggs

      • 0x4E4F@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        Hm 🤔… you know, I’ve seen roaches in the bathroom as well, and I always wondered what they were doing there, like there’s no food there. Apparently, if food is scarse, they’ll eat almost anything, dead human skin included.

        In that case, I guess they’re not that bad. Sure, they should be regulated, cuz of deseases and all that, but living in a bubble is not good as well… for the immune system I mean.

        OK, you’ve convinced me, I’m giving up on the roaches 😂.