Bio-scope
About 15 years back, my mother planted a sapling of the parijaatam plant (night flowering jasmine) on a small patch of land in front of our house because it was just bare. I don’t recall us doing much more with it.
When I gave that space a closer look last week, I saw that it now had 7 different plant species (not counting the grasses and very small shrubs), was host to at least 3 different types of ants and 2-3 other insects, 3 different types of reptiles, 3-4 different worms, occasional birds, many butterflies (you can see a black one if you looked close), with its soil undoubtedly host to countless microbes.
For a small 50 sqft patch, a fairly rich bio-ecosystem that had developed on its own in 15 years, in a city where it is warm most of the year.
Now try extrapolating this to an area 5000000000000 sq ft over 4500000000 years, comprising regions with diverse seasons and topographies ( large parts under water), and you start getting an idea of the biodiversity of – earth.
See my LinkedIn post on this topic
