What would happen if flies didn't exist?

If flies did not exist, their place in nature would be taken by some other creature, probably another insect. The niche that they inhabit is just too rich for it to go unexploited; some other creature would evolve to take advantage of the abundant piles of animal waste and decaying dead animal matter that exist in nature.

What if we developed the technology to get rid of all the flies? Well, for one thing, it would cut down on a lot of sickness. Flies carry filth and germs and if they land on your food, you may get sick if you eat that food. The tsetse fly, which carries a fatal sleeping sickness, is one of Africa's critical problems. If it were eradicated, vast areas of that continent would become suitable for livestock farming. As of now, they make a lot of sub-saharan Africa uninhabitable.

Is there any downside to getting rid of flies? Some plants might die out, if they rely on flies to spread their pollen. That's about it!

Comments

thanks for that.. Lets do it.. get rid of the fly.. especially in Australia !!
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by KAPTAIN on February 1st, 2005
The ecosystem effects of eliminating flies is far more deleterious than you let on
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by Erin Albrecht on April 5th, 2005
Flies are disgusting!
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by Answers101 on March 3rd, 2006
Is it beyond our Genetic Scientists scope to engineer fly DNA to make their offspring male only (for example)? Would the demise of the tsetse fly not save Africa from starvation?
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by KAPTAIN on October 19th, 2008
Flies are a primary food source for countless other animals; their removal would be absolutely disastrous to the global ecosystem. And no, it is not beyond the ability to make a fly only produce male offspring, but that would not eliminate flies due to the high probability of those flies' genetic line dieing out, genetic dilution eventually removing the modification (only 50% chance of any gene passing onto an offspring), and the fact that flies can reproduce asexually.
And eliminating tsetse flies would do nothing to solve starvation in Africa; they are not an indicator of nor cause of starvation. People in Africa starve because of socio-economic issues, not because a fly that carries a particular nasty disease exists.
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by BadJuice420 on September 24th, 2009