Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Tomorrow's world?

Looking back at my childhood, I can already convey to you from my own observations the world's climate is rapidly and dramatically changing. My mother told me of stories of frogs ribbiting at night in the ponds close to her childhood home contributing to a chorus started by crickets. These ponds along with the songs dried up before she graduated college. The sounds of her forest fell eerily silent. In my generation, the native aquatic insects of North America seem to be the next casualty.

Diverse aquatic insects are found on every continent. They indicate the health of the environment. Aquatic insects contribute to the purification of freshwater environments. They capture nutrients and in return they supply a food resource for other aquatic creatures, such as crayfish, frogs, and fish. They help break down material found within the aquatic environment and in turn recycled products are deposited in terrestrial environments during flooding events. These terrestrial ecosystems rely upon aquatic insects to maintain a healthy environment. Without a healthy environment maintained, the food chain begins to breakdown. The health of the environment depends on the variations in species composition, water quality, and above ground pollutants. All these important factors have a direct impact on the whole environment.

For as long as I can remember, I have helped my father with aquatic insect surveys and collected specimens for scientific study. This past year, the diversity of insects before and after the Pandemic has greatly decreased. These specimens are used to determine geographical relationships by examining their DNA and the health of the species. Numerous aquatic habitats in North America are diminishing, if not outright going extinct, due to severe drought conditions exemplified by the lack of precipitation combined with oppressive heat. Once plentiful and stable wetlands, seeps, and streams are going dry, disappearing either completely or going underground. There has already been a shift in the food chain and a loss of diversity. The world is potentially seeing the first signs of a prolonged mass extinction event.

The world's ecosystems have already been drastically altered by human activity, ranging from filling in of wetlands and clearcutting of forests to promote monoculture of food and forage crops, industrial parks, urbanization, etc. Humans and other organisms will have to adapt to new and changing environmental conditions. Population shifts will occur and resources will become scarce as arable land and water, whether potable or gray, dries up. We are already seeing a die off of insects, and our drinking water sources have become contaminated with pollutants. One particularly troubling trend is the explosive increase in the amount of microplastics in the environment. Microplastics are microscopic particles of plastics resulting from the natural breakdown of water bottles and other plastic materials or intentionally produced for use in toothpastes and lotions. Microplastics are now ubiquitous in the environment, having been found naturally in human foods, such as apples and carrots, but also in any foods prepared or transported in plastic containers, even human baby foods. Of all places where they are now found, they are especially high in aquatic environments, accumulating from rainfall, runoff, and purified water released from treatment facilities. They have been found in the tissues of numerous organisms, even humans. Microplastics co-occur with residual pesticides and medications, petroleum products, and heavy metals in our aquatic ecosystems and in combination pose a considerable harmful issue for the future generations. Our foreseeable future and the health of the planet are looking dramatically negative. On a current trip out west, it was extremely dry; we could not find any specimens of known species from specific locations where they have been plentiful in past visits. Human involvement has enhanced climate change and brought many possible insurmountable effects to the weather, insects, habitats, wildlife, people, and countries. The world's climate change is accelerating, and the effects will cause us to have to adapt to new living conditions. It is up to us to decide either how to slow down or prevent these changes or how we can respond to the rapidly approaching alternative environment.

In my reality, people are so focused on their daily lives that they don't notice changing conditions in the weather and environment. They are oblivious to the world around them; they only recognize the impact when it's too late to change the outcome. People's careless actions are not realized until the cumulative effects result in the poisoning of streams and lands. Everyone needs to consider the bottom of the iceberg because the quality of life of the planet depends on our actions and reactions. The locations in which I study are very important to me, and seeing them destroyed is very unsettling to me. A lot of the natural places in Tennessee have been overtaken by homes, agriculture, industrial parks, and the like. Recycling, when done well, is beneficial to the planet, but when done improperly can have a detrimental effect, with concentrated amounts of hazardous chemicals and materials leaching into soils and eventually streams, lakes, and other watercourses. Environmental protection through implantation of well-crafted strategies is necessary to keep our planet safe and viable.