Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
links in the chain—add stability. Species that broaden opportunities for oth-
ers to join the web are important, as a keystone is important to the support of
an arch. We humans are such keystone species when we diversify vegetation
and supplement natural food, water, and shelter for birds. Some birds, “facili-
tators” in ecological parlance, also enable the presence of others, in theory by
limiting dominant competitors and in practice by providing novel nesting
sites. Come—let's explore the web!
Much of the ecological web exists out of sight—underground and in rotting
wood. There, molds, bacteria, fungi, and a world of invertebrates convert the
last molecules of sun-derived plant sugar to new life. These organisms are
technically “decomposers,” but functionally they are among the greatest of
creators. Their bodies and chemical waste products provide us with an essen-
tial ecological service: soil, the foundation of terrestrial life. Some decomposers,
such as termites, sustain subirdia in a more direct way.
Rust-colored, winged kings and queens wafted high on a warm August
evening looking for sex and a place to settle down. Hoping that the orgy of
inch-long termites would ignore my house of wood, I watched as they took
their nuptial l ight from my forest. All summer their colonies were turning my
deadwood into rich humus. The munching of their siblings attracted wood-
peckers. This evening members of the elite reproductive class that had avoided
the long, sticky tongues of pileated, hairy, and downy woodpeckers were pro-
viding the foundation to an even wider part of subirdia's ecological web. Patrols
of violet-green swallows ploughed through the clouds of weak l ying termites
like whales through krill. A lone Vaux's swift raced along on rapid wingbeats
as it gorged on the insects. Less agile cedar waxwings hawked their share by
darting from the tops of i r trees and hovering among the termite masses,
beaking one bug at a time. The birds are not alone in this feast. A bat, most
