Animals and the Environment

By Donna Bear, Curator of Species Management

To understand the relationship animals have with our environment and ecosystem, we should revisit our 9th grade science class and think back to the carbon cycle, which is the chemical backbone for life on our planet. The carbon cycle is a process that moves carbon between plants, animals, microbes and the atmosphere. In a process called photosynthesis, plants use the sun, water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and energy. Animals then consume plants, oxygen and other animals, and release nutrients back into the soil and atmosphere as part of the cycle. While this seems like a very simplified answer to why animals are important to the ecosystem and environment, it is easy to forget that this balance can be easily disrupted and cause significant ramifications.

Everything, even something we find as noxious as a mosquito, has its place in the life cycle. Mosquitoes provide food for bats and spiders who help control agricultural pests, fertilize plants and act as a food source for other higher-level predators. Though the connection to different ecosystems and environments is sometimes quite complicated depending on the animal being considered, all have an impact on the system and disrupting even the smallest part of it can cause damage.

Though there are many ways in which humans impact this carbon cycle, activities in the illegal wildlife trade have significant repercussions. In Guam, hunting and poaching of bat species is illegal, but it is an integral part of local customs and is an ongoing issue. The bats are heavily reduced in numbers and the seed dispersal needed for reforestation is heavily impacted, affecting the ability of the island’s native environment to naturally repair itself. Wildlife trafficking also occurs, which removes other species from outlying islands, decimating populations in habitats that rely solely on those species for reforestation. It becomes a vicious circle when an activity such as trade, particularly illegal trade, poses far-reaching implications.

Imagine the repercussions of bats being taken out of the system because the mosquito and other agricultural pests have been eliminated. An immediate impact would occur on bat pollinated plants like cacao (cocoa), bananas, agave (tequila, sweetener), cashews and balsa. The removal of this one species will have an impact on everyone’s day-to-day life.

There have been recent studies that are beginning to quantify the importance of animals in the management and regulation of the carbon cycle. Findings show that some populations help contribute to offsetting the human impacts on the climate and the environment. Acknowledging and respecting the role animals play in sustaining the environment is key.

On a simpler note, animals provide us with food, provide seed dispersal and pollination for plants we need and use, as well as give back nutrients to the earth and atmosphere that benefits every living thing on earth. We often forget our own taxonomy, which is:

As fellow animals, we are intrinsic to the environment, and we must not forget that other animals are too.