Earth is home to millions of species of plants, animals and other organisms with characteristics that make them suitable to live in specific environments. With changes in these environments, we can observe changes in their behaviour that makes it possible to determine the health of their native ecosystems.
Often, this information gives insight into the effects of human activity on the natural environment, and it can also serve as a warning that conditions are becoming hazardous for humans. Let us discuss just a few examples of how living things can give us valuable information about our air, soil, and water quality, and the state of climate change.
One important source of information about the health of the ecosystems around us is the behaviour of birds. They are sensitive to changes in air quality. Historically, the canary was used to warn workers of the presence of toxic fumes in coal mines. These birds die long before the fumes became lethal to humans, who would then know that it was not safe to be there.
A current example of their sensitivity to changes in air quality is the death of certain birds on Union Island, in the Grenadines. Because of the ongoing volcanic activity in St Vincent, the air contains higher amounts of poisonous gas and ash, which is lethal to these birds, and has the potential to be lethal to humans as well.
Another example is the interaction of birds with ecosystems that are important for our food supplies. Waterbirds flock to wetland areas to feed on the insects and hunt the fish there. If the body of water is polluted, one may find that there are not many – if any – birds visiting that body of water. Their absence is an indication that the fish in these wetlands are not suitable for consumption, or even that there is no fish available, possibly because of die-off.
One creature that is a great indicator of soil quality is the earthworm. When last have you seen any of these industrious creatures? One can get an idea of how healthy soil is by the number of earthworms found in it. Earthworms are attracted to soil that contains a lot of dead plant matter and other materials. They help to break down these materials, enriching the soil with the nutrients, and making it more suitable for plant growth. Soil rich in earthworms is great for agriculture and for supporting fruit bearing trees that help with food security for humans. If there’s soil that contains a lot of organic matter, but lacking in earthworm activity, this may be an indicator that the soil is too polluted for them to survive. This information on soil quality can help to guide decisions on soil and groundwater use in these areas.
Algae growth can tell us a lot about the quality of our water, whether in ponds or lakes, or seawater. Algae thrives in nutrient-rich water like sewage and industrial runoff, meanwhile purifying the waste of the biomass and chemicals, and absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of the process. Large amounts of algae (or algal blooms) in water bodies are strong indicators of nutrient levels in the water.
While algal blooms are not always harmful, algae overgrowth can easily trigger massive die-offs of fish and other aquatic and marine creatures that we depend on for food. These deadly events bear strong connections with pollution of our water bodies because of uncontrolled human activity such as unprocessed runoff from industrial, agricultural, and residential developments.
These are just three examples of how our natural environment can warn us about the state of our environment and help us to make changes. Since they afford us such benefits, it’s only right that we work to protect our plant and animal neighbours in return.
