The CA least tern plays large and important roles in nature and is a necessary species in our environment!
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To save the tern also means to save another species!
How?
They are also a food source for other animals that are very important to the environment in some way, such as American crow, common raven (Corvus corax), coyote (Canis latrans), and red fox (Vulpesfulva) (California least tern, 2006). The red fox, for example, will continue to hunt even when it is already full, so they can store energy (Red Fox - Vulpes vulpes, n.d.). Without the CA Least Tern, the fox would not have one of its main food sources, which can destabilize the food chain, and that would be really bad, affecting more and more species’ populations.
In addition to food chain, another really important role that this amazing bird plays is population control. If the tern disappears, the population number of animals such as anchovy, smelt, and small crustaceans that are eaten by this bird will rise in big quantities, and as mentioned before, the numbers of individuals in the red fox’s population and other animals that are somehow connected to the least tern, will critically decrease! That is one of the multiple reasons why this awesome species should be saved, they need your help!
in nature, They are not only connected to animals, but also with other organisms!
Not only the least tern, but birds in general, provide lots of benefits for their ecosystem. Some of the benefits are that if the ecosystem is healthy and balanced with a lot of biodiversity, they can recover easily from different types of disasters (natural and human caused) (Shah, 2009).
Nutrient cycling is one of the most important functions that birds like the CA least tern play. How? Birds can move nutrients from one place to another, spreading them into different parts of the ecosystem, helping it to be more healthy (Hill, 2014). The flow of nutrients also links several living and nonliving organisms that are dependent of each other (such as animals/plants and air, food sources, etc) (The Importance of Nutrient Cycles, 2015).
Birds like the California Least Tern are very important to provide to our beaches more biodiversity and protect our everyday so important drinking water, slowing the spread of disease, and, because they are a indicator species, they indicate when its ecosystem is not healthy due to polluted water, habitat destruction, and loss of the food source that they need to survive (What Do Birds Do for Us?, 2016).
Courtesy of Marlin Harms
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