A Lizard For Every Hour

While I was doing my graduate research, I could often predict where a lizard would be. That is because lizards share resources by occupying the same space but at different times. This is part of a concept called niche partitioning. It is when organisms are not in 100% direct competition with each other, so each species can survive.

Niche partitioning can also look like species A preferring to eat different kinds of insects than species B. It’s not like the lizards spend time discussing who gets what resource. If species are in direct competition, evolution favors the stronger competitor and the weaker species goes extinct.

As humans, we have the ability to work with each other to find the best use of our resources. This sometimes calls for altruism, a behavior that benefits another at some cost to oneself. However, altruism shouldn’t necessarily be associated with a large cost when, instead it may be a minor inconvenience. All this to say, as we see the Trump Administration do away with important agencies like the National Park Service which is tasked at protecting our natural resources, maybe we can learn something from lizards. Although some resources are finite, there are ways to share them for the betterment of humanity and the planet. I want to strongly urge each of you to visit your local parks, volunteer, or donate to their nonprofit arm. If there is no park near you, visit your local nature center and do the same.

We need to protect our natural resources so that we may have functioning ecosystems locally and globally. The Earth can support all of us if we take care of it and each other.

I hope you #FindThatLizard

Let me know in the comments with #FoundThatLizard

If you need help finding an initiative to support, I can give some suggestions!