biodiversity

Have you ever spent time observing a small area outside and noticed how many different kinds of plants, insects, and other living creatures are there? Or maybe you’re a birder who has learned to identify the wide range of bird species that live in and pass through our area.

Living things have adapted to fill nearly every habitat, niche, and lifecycle we can imagine. They’re all different colors, body shapes, and sizes, from microscopic green algae to giant hydrodynamic blue whales. They get their energy and nutrient requirements from all kinds of sources. Sometimes they’re very specific, like caterpillars of the Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly that can only survive on American Mistletoe plants. Other times they use a general range, like opossums that can eat fruit & other plant parts, hunt snakes and other small animals, and scavenge already dead animals. Some living things can do amazing things that are impossible for others. Plants can grow a whole new individual from just one small piece, and ladybugs completely change their body structure and way of life at different points.

There’s amazing diversity in the creatures that live in our world, and you don’t have to travel far away to see it! Impressive living things are right outside (and inside) your home, school, or work.

Whether it’s for food, shelter, travel, health, or beyond, living things depend on others to survive. Vining plants like muscadines and scuppernongs climb up structures or other plants to reach the sunlight they need. Lichen are a symbiotic creature of small fungi, algae, or bacteria living together. Many birds will flock together in the winter or while migrating to help find food and watch for predators. Complex communities of fungi and bacteria help to decompose dead organic material and create rich soils that plants can survive in.

Just like plants and animals, people depend on each other and other living things, too. Where does your food come from? How do you support your physical, mental, and social health? Who helps to keep your community safe and thriving?