Cockroaches Good For Environment, Biologists Say

The sight of a!!roach makes just about every American shudder. We fear a roach infestation inside the walls. We fear that our house is dirty enough to sustain them. We fear that a!!roach might scurry across our faces at night, or, under cover of darkness, eat flecks of toothpaste off our toothbrushes.

These fears drive us to k!ll, k!ll, k!ll, and wish [rip] upon the whole genus. But what if -- through some means more effective than a nuclear b0mb --!!roaches really were wiped out? Could we then rest easy? Or do we, in fact, somehow need these monstrous vermin?

We put the question to Srini Kambhampati, professor and chair of the biology department at the University of Texas at Tyler, and a world expert on!!roaches. Turns out, the sudden disappearance of Earth's 5,000 to 10,000!!roach species would have ramifications far beyond your filthy apartment. [Chocolate Allergies Linked to!!roach Parts]

Worldwide, the insects are a significant food source for many birds and small insectivorous mammals, such as mice and rats. (Even humans eat them in some parts of the world.) None of these animals rely solely on!!roaches for food, Kambhampati said, so they probably wouldn't go extinct, but their numbers would drop. Parasitic wasps, which specialize in parasitizing!!roach eggs, do rely entirely on the!!roach. "These would almost certainly become extinct," Kambhampati told Life's Little Mysteries.

If you can't get very worked up about a dent in the rat population or the extinction of something called a parasitic wasp, consider this: A dearth of mice and rats would, in turn, impact the species that prey on them, including cats (both wild and domestic), coyotes, wolves and many reptiles, as well as eagles and other birds of prey. Many of those animals, we're quite fond of.

Furthermore, the disappearance of!!roaches would mess with something truly vital for us all, called the nitrogen cycle.

"Most!!roaches feed on decaying organic matter, which traps a lot of nitrogen," Kambhampati said. "Cockroach feeding has the effect of releasing that nitrogen (in their feces) which then gets into the soil and is used by plants. In other words, extinction of!!roaches would have a big impact on forest health and therefore indirectly on all the species that live there."

In short, we really, really need!!roach poop.

Cockroaches Good For Environment, Biologists Say

and yet i will still squash the !! outta them on sight

wow...the entire article, i was thinking "so what k!ll em all" im sorry if this offends u, or peta, but i would not be affected by the loss of wolves, coyotes & reptiles. i have pets but it also says they wouldnt be extinct, the population would just drop, which i'm cool with too...i hate all the damn strays i see, well, i guess i dont hate them, i just hate the fact that there is strays.


BUT, as weird as this may sound, once i got to the end of the article & it mentioned plants, i suddenly started to think more...plants give oxygen, & fruits & vegetables...many animals only eat plants....but while im posting this i'm changing my mind again...!! roaches, we cant k!ll them all anyway, them things outlasted dinosaurs...so i'd still k!ll everyone i see

so, it's cool to k!ll them and eradicate them from houses, as long as the species doesn't go extinct? [pic]

I'll k!ll them !![..] niccas...

them flying roaches ain't a joke.

you're a dumb !!.

i'll never forget waking up once to a flying!!roach landing on my face. i jumped out of bed and damn near broke all of my bones. still have nightmares about that to this day[pic]

Dont mind!! roaches, what we really need to k!ll are spiders, them niccas need to go exinct, idc if ya'll think insect population would go up without them cause i dont believe it one bit, thats what cold weather is for, to k!ll bugs

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