A meditation on forests, ecosystems, and our kinship with the living world
Remove them, and the ecosystem unravels. These species shape their environments in ways that support countless others.
Apex predator whose return to Yellowstone cascaded through the entire ecosystem - elk behavior changed, willows recovered, rivers shifted course.
By eating sea urchins, they protect kelp forests. When otters disappeared, urchin barrens replaced underwater forests.
Forest architects who create clearings, disperse seeds across vast distances, dig water holes in dry seasons.
North America's original engineers. Their dams create wetlands, raise water tables, provide habitat for countless species.
Born in streams, grown in oceans, they return to die and fertilize forests. Bears carry their bodies into woods.
They eat coral, excrete sand. Caribbean beaches exist because of parrotfish. One fish produces 800 pounds of sand per year.
Their towns support over 100 other species. Burrowing owls, black-footed ferrets, and countless others depend on them.
Strangler figs fruit asynchronously, feeding forest creatures year-round when other food is scarce.
The wood wide web. Underground networks connecting trees, sharing nutrients, sending warnings of pests.
Pollinators of a third of our food crops. Their decline threatens both ecosystems and agriculture.