Final Thoughts (For Now)

 Hello Reader,

For today’s post, as the semester is coming to a close, I will be reflecting on how my perspective of biodiversity has grown and changed in these last few months.

In doing my research into biodiversity and ecology in general, it became adamantly clear how interconnected different lifeforms (and their environments) are within ecosystems. This holds true regardless the location or the characteristics of the habitat being looked at. I think this is very important to remember, because as many in our field work to perhaps conserve different species or remove nonnative ones, it is vital we understand their specific role(s) in their habitat, so that we ensure we are doing more good than harm with our actions.

I also learned about how great the biodiversity can be even in a relatively small area of study. For instance, throughout the course of the semester I researched the Chattahoochee River and the surrounding area, and learned so much about the flora and fauna present, as well as how the physical environment impacts the river itself and the species within and around it. This was a very beneficial project to me not only because I recently moved to Georgia and now have a better understanding of the native (and nonnative) species I am sharing my environment with, but also because I had never really thought about the diversity of animals and plants that interact with each other in their given ecosystems until I participated in this course. It was also shocking to me the number of nonnative species present in the area I chose, and I’m certain that is representative of much of the country. Considering how detrimental these invasive plants and animals can be, and how they effect the ecosystems they invade, I think it is very important to be aware of their presence so that actions can be taken to maintain and restore ecosystems’ native species in order to ensure healthy biodiversity for years to come.

Overall, I feel like I got a lot out of this course. Through learning about different research and data collection tools (my maps, web soil survey, etc.), to acquiring a better understanding of the definition of biodiversity as well as the specific biodiversity of different areas, I think the information I have gathered will help me a lot as I continue progressing in my education and career.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I have enjoyed creating it!

Fran