Bees
Researcher George McGavin concluded that “We rely upon bees for just about every vegetable, flower and fruit around. They are a crucial terrestrial group and we would face mass starvation without them.” And let’s put it this way: no bees, no plants. Less plants, less animals and, more importantly, less oxygen! Of course, this is an extreme scenario, but our world would definitely be much more challenging without these tiny insects.
Bats
According to Mother Earth News, bats can eat from 6,000to 8,000 insects a night, making them effective at keeping crop-destroying insects at bay. They also disperse seeds through guano and are known to pollinate flowers—all essential steps for healthy, natural plant and tree production. So no matter how much we dislike them, we should thank them for the world we live in!
Plankton
This is a really tiny sea creature we hardly notice throughout our lives. However, these microscopic beings produce more than 50% of the world’s oxygen! “Fish, whales, dolphins, crabs, seabirds and just about everything else that makes a living in or off of the oceans owe their existence to phytoplankton, one-celled plants that live at the ocean surface,” admits researcher John Roach.
Primates
As Science Advances explains, “Primates are prey, predator and mutualist species in food webs and thereby influence ecosystem structure, function, and resilience. Their evolution, feeding ecology, and geographic distribution are closely linked to the diversification of angiosperms, a principal source of food (pollen, nectar, fruits, and seeds) for many animals and humans. Many primates have been identified or suspected as important pollinators due to their opportunistic nondestructive feeding on flowers and nectar.”
Ants
Last, but not least, these hard workers are so much more important to the earth we live in than we’ll ever realize. As the National Association of Science Writers found, the simple fact that ants dig the earth and aerate it naturally leads to 40% more productive harvests throughout the world. Also, they transport seeds effectively and help nature flourish.