We are interconnected with nature in so many countless ways that benefits us. Trees for example, provide us with oxygen, prevent soil erosion, and absorb up to 7.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. But as deforestation occurs rampantly around the globe, these benefits are becoming less and less.
Elephants, however are known as the ‘Gardeners of the forest’ and actually ensure the survival of trees as they disperse seeds from trees they forage from. But as wild elephant populations continue to dwindle due to the illegal ivory trade and elephants taken from the wild to be used in the tourism industry, the biodiversity of ecosystems begin to crash, resulting in tree species unable to thrive.
In the article; ‘When Elephants Go, So Do Trees’, it explains our interdependence with nature and just how valuable elephants are in the ecosystem. Without the presence of keystone species such as the elephant, nature and the benefits it provides for us rapidly ceases to exist.
To read this article, copy and paste the link below;
Video of importance of forest elephants
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” John Muir
Photo by Rob Hampson on Unsplash
