By Josie January 19th, 2023
Every organism on the planet is interconnected.
Many don’t fully grasp the significance of our reliance on other species.
Let's take a look at the species we owe our survival too:
The ecological balance needed for a biome to survive depends on all living things in the ecosystem working together in unison.
1. Bats
Bats provide us with pest control, it can consume up to 1,000 insects per hour.
Another type of assistance humans get from insectivorous bats is their control of disease vectors such as mosquitoes, which causes malaria and dengue fever.
Their appetite helps farmers save millions of crops each year.
They prevent disease transmission by feeding on disease-carrying insects, and their tadpoles help keep waterways clean.
Frogs are the first group of animals to react to imminent biological danger, they can indicate contamination in both types of habitats surrounding them.
The ecological roles they play include insect pest control, plant pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient cycling.
Also, some birds help in soil aeration by digging the soil with their claws and beaks.
Their actions directly impact human health, food production, and world economies.
This is because without bees flying around and pollinating plants, a large number of plants would not grow.
Bees are the one specie that almost every other animal species on the planet rely upon.
A reduction in bee populations a would result in food shortage, or even famine at its highest point of decline.
Without plankton, there would be half the oxygen in the world there is today.
Planktons are a diverse group of microscopic organisms that live in water that cannot move against the water current.
5. Plankton
These rodents are regarded as “nature’s engineers” as they create, modify, and maintain habitats and ecosystems.
Negative effects of climate change are alleviated by beavers in wetland habitats.
They help these habitats adapt to climate change by storing water, reducing erosion and flooding and improving hydrological conditions.
Ants are ecologically significant because their activities limit the need for farm practices such as pesticide or fertilizer application.
When they dig their tunnels, they help aerate the soil, decompose dead matter, and recycle nutrients.
Their everyday actions help spread seeds as they feed on nuts and fruits.
Known as “forest gardeners, ” they are ecologically vital, particularly in tropical rainforests.
8. Primates
They are necessary for the survival of the trees which are responsible for 50% of atmospheric oxygen from the world’s rainforests.
Their feeding and burrowing activities add organic residues and enrich the soil profile.
Worms help the climate by facilitating and accelerating carbon sequestration through the incorporation of organic materials into the soil and the formation of soil macroaggregates.
Though not technically animals, they are not technically plants either.
They decompose dead plants and animals and recycle them into energy for building another generation.
In the field of medicine, fungi have been responsible for significant medical breakthroughs, chief of which is the widely popular penicillin antibiotic.