universe

For this week’s essay it was asked of me to write about the ways in which life observed in nature can yield understanding in our own lives. From my own observation of nature I have learned that everyone has a role to play in life. No matter how small of a creature; there is something vital that it does for our existence. In the following paragraphs I will be explaining this a bit more into detail. To make my perspective a bit more clear I will be providing a few examples. For example ants, ants are such small creatures and without doing any research think; what ecological importance does an ant have? Honestly I can’t think of any important roles an ant may have for our ecosystem so I did a bit of research. Ants turn and aerate the soil allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots; they are also a very important part of the food web. Some species of ants eat termites; others are the actual meal for other animals such as frogs, bears, etc. Zebra mussels are small triangle shaped shells and are usually a brown color with stripes. In fresh water ecosystems they can act as filters for plankton, by clearing the water sunlight can reach deeper into the water; this lets more aquatic animals to grow. Although they do provide benefits to our ecosystem they can also be very damaging; they can clog pipes, they eat phytoplankton which leaves less food for fish and zooplankton. They tend to grow on manmade structures which affect the governments and business owner’s financial troubles. In my opinion difficulty plays an important role in our life; if we don’t experience the bad things how will we know what the good things are? I think that the hardships we face not only help us realize the good things in life but also help us learn to appreciate them. In my experience the sports adage – No pain, no gain is true. To me it means that nothing worthwhile is ever going to be easy. Is the gain ever worth the pain? Yes, yes it is. For example, I am in a long distance

References: http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Dreissena_polymorpha/ http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/ants/ecological-importance