Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
This feeling of connection to nature enlarges our understanding
of community. . . . We emerge as stewards of nature motivated
by an expanded appreciation of our personal and collective
self- interest.
—Stephen R. Kellert,
Birthright
(2012)
Though relatively tame and constructed mostly from human hands, su-
birdia is not a zoo. There are no coni ning bars to isolate species or moats to
separate humans from wild beasts. In subirdia, birds and humans share an
ecosystem in which they are connected by i bers that dei ne the web of life.
This is a complex web that includes competitive battles among closely related
wrens (such as the Pacii c and Bewick's wrens in Chapter 3), and much more.
Most of the songbirds we enjoy live in the web's center feeding on insects and
plants from the web's wide base, while supporting a diverse range of preda-
tors that form the web's exterior. Connections that link organisms to the many
plant and animal foods they consume dei ne one aspect of the web's form, its
“trophic structure.” As these food chains layer predators atop midlevel consum-
ers such as songbirds, the diversity and redundancy of species—the alternate
