ecosystems

I was watching a PBS show on ecology, which is the scientific study of the relationships between living organisms and their environment. In that show they discussed some very interesting concepts, and the one that struck me the most was ‘keystone species’. Everything mother nature evolved is part of an ecosystem. You can think of the Earth like a massive, thriving group of ecosystems or metaphorically neighborhoods. It has people, animals, forests, oceans, and deserts that all rely on each other to keep the planet healthy. Within each group there are certain members that hold everything together. These are the keystone species, or Nature’s VIPs, like the honeybees in a flower garden, the beavers in a stream, the starfish in an estuary. Even if there aren't very many of them, they do the heavy lifting. If they disappear, the whole neighborhood falls apart. But when they are thriving, every other living thing around them thrives, too.

Your body is made up of 13 different neighborhoods, like your digestive system, heart, brain and lungs. We can think of these internal neighborhoods working in the exact same way. While the keystone species in each neighborhood do their own job, they constantly rely on one another to keep you healthy and moving. Because our bodies are like nature's ecosystems, this allows us to look at our own health in a brand-new and fascinating way. Every system in your body relies on a few crucial, heavy-lifting elements as well. In the gut, the so-called good bacteria keep things running smoothly. But with any ecosystem, balance is everything as you may recall from the article on homeostasis. If those crucial elements go missing, that specific body neighborhood gets out of whack. And because all your neighborhoods are interconnected, the body tries to accommodate the one struggling neighborhood but ends up throwing another out of balance. With each successive compensatory change your body makes, the neighborhoods get further out of balance until finally your whole body feels tired or sick. It is at this point that illness takes root and chronic conditions become established. While we treat this obvious body manifestation, we may not appreciate the root cause is the loss of a keystone species in another neighborhood. The good news, however, is that healing is possible if you bring those essential elements back! It is never too late. Even if your health has felt out of balance for a long time, restoring Nature’s VIPs, these keystone species, can help your body repair itself and return to its natural, healthy state. The word "ecology" comes from an old Greek word meaning "the study of our house." Your body is your most important, permanent house. By looking at how nature keeps the great outdoors in perfect balance, we can learn how to protect our own physical and mental well-being as we age. Next time we will explore the specific "VIPs" you can add to your daily routine to support your neighborhoods/ecosystems.