It's Wild
Out There

This weekly ELC article series describes some of the fascinating relationships in the Florida ecology of plants, animals and other life-forms. Only when we understand these relationships can we fully appreciate nature, where native plants and animals are never merely isolated individuals. Widespread understanding of this interdependence in the natural world is crucial for the success of sustaining biodiversity, because land conservation alone has proven to be insufficient in preventing the wholesale extinction of species, especially among insects. Only when the private land owner understands their yard as part of a network connecting conservation areas that can mitigate fragmentation by creating habitat for wildlife with native plants will we manage to turn this ecological catastrophe around. We have to start to restore nature at home in our own backyards.