Erythronium americanum seed 9246eer
Photo by Paul Rothrock
The Little Things That Run the World
Written By: Lee Casebere
Date Published: February 13, 2024
Lee Casebere
By Lee Casebere
The well-known scientist E.O. Wilson wrote in 2006, “More respect is due the little things that run the world.” I want to further explore why it matters that many species of plants and animals around the world are disappearing due to human actions.
In his book The Creation, Wilson wrote that “Humanity doesn’t need a moon base or a manned trip to Mars. We need an expedition to planet Earth, where probably fewer than ten percent of the life forms are known to science, and fewer than one percent of those have been studied beyond a simple anatomical description and a few notes on natural history.”
This is at a time when many life scientists believe we are now in the early stages of the sixth great extinction of life forms on Earth, almost entirely caused directly or indirectly by human activities. Those of us who care about biodiversity find it disturbing that many species will be going extinct even before we know that they ever existed.
According to Wilson, insects comprise the greatest diversity of species among all organisms, and the total number of known species in 2006 was around 900,000. However, he says that the true number, including those remaining to be discovered and classified, may exceed ten million.
Those who watch nature programs on TV, marveling at the diversity of amazing creatures on land and sea, probably assume that naturalists and scientists know everything there is to know about Earth and its inhabitants. The idea that perhaps less than ten percent of Earth’s insect species are known simply in terms of classifying them as distinct species seems a bit shocking.
And then consider the fact that for the ones that are not yet known to exist, it’s impossible to know what contributions they make to ecosystem function.
Wilson’s specialty was ants, and he postulated that at any given moment in time the weight of all ants in the world may be as much as the entire human population, which is now over eight billion people. And that’s just ants, a small fraction of the great number of insect species.
Within the realm of scientific classification of organisms, insects are within the phylum known as arthropods. Besides insects, other arthropod kin include enormous numbers of other creatures (both number of species and total biomass) such as spiders, mites, millipedes, centipedes, and pillbugs.
Nematodes, members of another phylum, comprise another exceptionally large biomass of organisms. Of them, Wilson says, “. . . at the very apex, the amazing nematode worms, whose vast population swarms, probably representing millions of species, make up four-fifths of all animals on Earth. Can anyone believe that these little creatures are just there to fill space?”
In addition to the organisms already mentioned, there are innumerable additional small animals and plants, from macroscopic to microscopic in size. They include undescribed species of mosses, lichens, fungi, bacteria, mycorrhizae, and the aquatic plants and animals known as phytoplankton and zooplankton.
The life functions of these organisms vary widely but include producers, consumers, predators, parasites, and decomposers of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. A truism of ecological science is that ecosystem stability operates best through diversity and relationship complexity.
They may not be readily visible to us, but taken as a whole, the little things comprise an enormous component of total life on Earth. Thus, they likely are the most important strands in the web of life. Within the realm of their Lilliputian world, the most basic organic and inorganic elements are broken down into usable forms that tiny organisms utilize and bring into the flow of materials moving upward through never-ending cycles of living and dying.
We learned in biology classes that lichens are a kind of composite organism that arises from an alga or cyanobacteria living among the filaments of fungi in a mutualistic relationship. It is a relationship in which growth and survival of both components is benefited. Neither can survive under natural conditions without the other. This arrangement is also referred to as symbiosis.
Unlike lichens, most interactions between two species are definitely not beneficial to both. Such an example is that of a hawk eating a vole where the hawk gains sustenance and the vole dies. Our planet is flush with winners and losers among life forms, yet when the entirety of Earth’s ecological processes are considered, they comprise something akin to symbiosis, even if that term doesn’t fit from a technical definition standpoint.
In his book Flowering Earth, Donald Culross Peattie (1991) describes it like this: “. . . if you look again at the fact of symbiosis you see that in principle it is universal. For all organisms are a part of the web; their underlying and vital relationships are one vast multiple symbiosis.” To which E.O. Wilson might add, “run by little things.”
—
This guest post was adapted from an article that our supporter Lee Casebere contributed to the Indiana Native Plant Society Journal, and was edited to fit our available space.
Our header photo by Paul Rothrock shows a black field ant (Formica subsericea) that would have been well-known to E.O. Wilson. This worker, attracted by a nutritious elaiosome, is carrying a seed of yellow trout-lily (Erythronium americanum) back to her nest – one example of the wonderful symbiotic interactions between species.
References
Peattie, D.C. 1991. Flowering Earth. Indiana University Press. Bloomington and Indianapolis. Originally published in 1939.
Wilson, E.O. 2006. The Creation – An Appeal to Save Life on Earth. W.W. Norton & Company. New York, NY.
Ben Valentine
Guest Blogger
Ben Valentine is a founding member of the Friends of Marott Woods Nature Preserve and is active in several other conservation organizations. He leads a series of NUVO interviews with Indiana's environmental leaders, and he cherishes showing his son all the wonders of nature he grew up loving.
DJ Connors
Guest Blogger
DJ Connors, a Central Indiana native and late-to-life hunter, combines a lifelong appreciation for wildlife and the outdoors with a deep passion for exploring the natural beauty of the area he has called home for most of his life. As a husband and father of three, he is committed to ensuring his children have the same opportunities to connect with nature and appreciate the outdoors in their community. DJ’s unique journey into hunting emphasizes sustainability, responsible stewardship, and the importance of preserving these experiences for future generations.
Bridget Walls
Guest Blogger
Bridget is our first ever Communications and Outreach Intern. She is a graduate of Marian University, where she combined English, studio art, and environmental sciences in her degree studies. As treasurer for Just Earth, the university's environmental club, she helped plan events encouraging a responsible relationship between people, nature, and animals.
Jordan England
Guest Blogger
Jordan England is a lifelong Shelby County resident who graduated from Waldron Jr. Sr. High School (just a few miles from Meltzer Woods!). After earning her B.S. degree in Retail Management from Purdue University, she returned to Waldron to start a family with her husband, Brian. Together they have 3 young children and enjoy sharing with them their love of the community. Jordan is the Grants and Nonprofit Relations Director at Blue River Community Foundation, managing BRCF’s grant program, providing support to local nonprofits, and promoting catalytic philanthropy in Shelby County.
Cliff Chapman
President and CEO
As CILTI’s President and CEO, Cliff keeps CILTI’s focus on good science and stewardship. He’s mindful that the natural places you love took thousands of years to evolve and could be destroyed in a single day, and that knowledge drives his dedication to their protection.
Stacy Cachules
Chief Operating Officer
Among her many key duties as Assistant Director, Stacy has the critical task of tracking our budget, making sure we channel donations for maximum efficiency. When her workday’s done, Stacy loves to spend time with her two young boys—and when not traveling, she’s likely planning the next travel adventure.
Ryan Fuhrmann
Vice Chair
Ryan C. Fuhrmann, CFA, is President and founder of Fuhrmann Capital LLC, an Indiana-based investment management firm focused on portfolio management. Ryan’s interest in land conservation centers around a desire to help preserve natural habitats for wildlife and the subsequent benefits it brings to people and the environment.
Joanna Nixon
Board Member
Joanna Nixon is the owner of Nixon Consulting, an Indianapolis-based strategy and project management firm focused on the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as the Philanthropic Advisor for the Efroymson Family Fund. Prior to opening her consulting practice in 2000, Joanna was vice-president for grantmaking at Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF). Joanna has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit and arts and culture sector. She is passionate about the environment and loves bringing big ideas to life and creating high-quality arts and culture programs and experiences. Joanna enjoys outdoor adventures, including competing in fitness obstacle course races and hiking with her high energy Australian Cattle Dog, Jackson.
Karen Wade
Board Member
Before retiring, CILTI board member Karen Wade worked for Eli Lilly & Co. In retirement she volunteers for a number of organizations, including the Indiana Master Naturalist program, Johnson County Native Plant Partnership CISMA, Meadowstone Therapeutic Riding Center, and Leadership Johnson County.
David Barickman
Development Systems Manager
Born and raised in Central Illinois, David spent many days as a child wandering around the river, forest and lakes there. He works behind the scenes as a key member of our fundraising team. When not working, David loves to be outdoors hiking, fly fishing, kayaking or woodworking.
Jamison Hutchins
Stewardship Director
Jamison leads our stewardship team in caring for the land that is so important to you. He comes to our team after eight years as Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator for the city of Indianapolis, where his work had a positive impact from both health and environmental perspectives.
Jen Schmits Thomas
Media Relations
An award-winning communicator and recognized leader in Central Indiana’s public relations community, Jen helps us tell our story in the media. She is the founder of JTPR, which she and her husband John Thomas own together. She is accredited in public relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America, and loves to camp and hike in perfect weather conditions.
Shawndra Miller
Communications Director
Shawndra’s earliest writing projects centered around the natural world, starting when a bird inspired her to write her first “book” in elementary school. Now she is in charge of sharing our story and connecting you to our work. Through our print and online materials, she hopes to inspire your participation in protecting special places for future generations.
Phillip Weldy
Stewardship Specialist
Phillip enjoys nature’s wonders from an up-close-and-personal perspective as he works to restore the natural places you love. As an AmeriCorps member in Asheville, NC, he had his first full immersion in relatively undisturbed land while reconstructing wilderness trails in National Parks and National Forests.
February 24, 2025
Part 7 of our winter “Staff Picks” series Plants make choices. They network and communicate, compete and collaborate. They assess risks and allocate their energies accordingly. They alter their behavior and morphology according to environmental cues. They even spread the word about threats to kin and non-kin alike.
Newsroom
February 13, 2025
Part 6 of our winter “Staff Picks” series When I was asked to write a book review, I had to pause and take a moment to think about which book would be good for me to read right now. I tend to choose informational, textbook-like screeds that are always [...]
Newsroom
February 7, 2025
Part 5 of our winter “Staff Picks” series North Woods is a novel written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason. It was easily my favorite read of 2024. The story begins on a plot of land in northern Massachusetts, and remains in the exact same spot for hundreds of [...]
Betley Woods,Homepage,Newsroom,Properties
