The intricate network of tunnels that earthworms create is extremely important. In fact, Charles Darwin said: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures.” Strong praise indeed!

They may be regarded as humble invertebrates, but their contribution to the environment is amazing.  They eat their weight in soil every day, and excrete worm casts that contain all the primary nutrients for healthy soil, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.  Worm casts also contain calcium, magnesium and sulphur, as well as micronutrients.                     

Every gardener knows how important worms are to the soil.  They have no arms, legs, or eyes, but interestingly 5 basic hearts.  They live on dead plants, fungi, bacteria, fallen leaves.  As they eat, they break down and recycle the organic matter in the soil, making tunnels in the soil for water, air and nutrients to pass through.  They provide tasty food too, for hungry birds.  It is difficult to overestimate the positive effect they give to other life on the planet, our chosen definition of ‘the point of view of the planet.’  It seems likely then, that these apparently lowly creatures will score highly in our calculus.

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Birds

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Birds are beautiful.  What is more, they are a form of wild life that is often easy to see.  They do bring benefits to the environment, and also to our Planet’s point of view.

 

We will examine those benefits, and find that they are significant, but often play a secondary role to other forms of activity. 

 

They ingest seeds and during excretion distribute them to other areas.  Sometimes they disperse seeds by the simple method of travelling with tiny seeds trapped in their feathers.  Like most organisms on our planet, they carry out this function with no sense of duty or morality.  Just by their existence and way of life, they bring benefits to other life. 

 

Some birds, such as hummingbirds and sunbirds, have specialised beaks and tongues that allow them to access the nectar of flowers, so play a similar role to insects in fertilisation. 

 

Birds come in a great variety of habits and sizes.  Vultures specialise in scavenging for dead animal carcasses.  But more common than vultures is the crow, recycling dead animal matter.  Without the aid of these dignified and beautiful creatures, disease would potentially be more common in humans and animals.

 

Bird droppings, known as guano, are rich in nutrients such as phosphorus, which are essential for photosynthesis to take place.

 

According to the. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, almost all bird species are declining.  According to a 2021 study, since 1980, one out of every six birds has been lost.   This adds up to the loss of 600 million breeding birds over 40 years.  This applies to woodland birds and birds that may be familiar on garden bird tables.  Loss of habitat is widely blamed for this, as well as the increasing use of insecticide on arable land. Birds like wild areas, and neat gardens favoured by many gardeners, is a discouragement for birds. 

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Increasing human population inevitably leads to more building, of roads and housing, most of it leading to a direct loss of habitat for wild bird populations. Birds favoured by humans to eat, for example, chickens and turkeys can be counted as exceptions.  But they are of benefit almost overwhelmingly to one species, the human one, so cannot be counted in our definition of the View of the Planet being the total of all life on the planet.

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Home - click here

The Planet's Point of View - click here

The Beginnings of Life on Earth - click here

The First Big Advance - Cyanobacteria, click here

Fabulous Fungi - click here

Vegetation - click here

Insects - click here

Mammals - including humans, click here

Water based life - click here

The Calculus - click here

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