Part 12

The natural landscape is heavily altered by human activity. The natural habitats for many animals have disappeared.

You see here a nesting and overwintering aid for insects, which some call an “insect hotel”. Useful insects can spend the night, find shelter in the winter or lay eggs.

So-called “beneficial organisms” fulfill various functions. For example, the animals help keep plants free of pests. They often devour a multiple of their weight in sucking and gnawing insects and their brood. Green lacewings belong to these, which feed mainly on nectar, and their larvae exterminate masses of aphids.

Some beneficial organisms carry pollen from one plant to the next and pollinate, facilitating fruit generation, species preservation and the emergence of new species and varieties.

In addition, a healthy insect population ensures a population of native songbirds. Eat and be eaten…