Hidden Hotspots of Biodiversity

 Chapter 3 of healing grounds focuses on biodiversity and the work of Aidee Guzman. She focused on pollinators, soil microorganisms, fungi, and how farms growing a variety of crops have a positive impact on pollinators. Her findings support concepts Ive learned in other classes such as Entomology. In Entomology we discussed how growing a variety of different crops not only benefits a wider variety of insects but also protects the crops from diseases spread by those same insects. Growing many different types of plants acts as almost a buffer for diseases vectored by insects. Instead of a pest spreading a disease to the entire crop field a buffer plant that is not as susceptible to certain diseases will clear a bug of that disease before it moves to another plant that would have been more vulnerable to that disease. This is a super interesting concept to me and its just another way nature uses biodiversity to protect itself and maintain a healthy ecosystem. Guzman also dives into the relationship between fungi and plants. I would definitely recommend the movie fantastic fungi if you're interested in this topic. It's a great movie that goes into how important fungi and mycelium are for plants. Plants are all basically connected underground through a huge interconnected web of fungi that allows them to communicate and send nutrients to plants who have become sick or aren't getting enough nutrients. It's crazy to me how plants are able to do this and it really shows that nature is so connected in so many ways that we cannot see.