Observation No. 9 - No ecosystem depends on a single species

What is the most important organism in an ecosystem?

Our attention naturally goes to what is biggest, strongest, or most productive. But one observation beneath an enormous tree made me wonder whether I had been asking the wrong question.

From a forest to a grassland, a ranch, or even a business, I began recognizing a pattern that appeared again and again.

What if the strength of a system doesn't depend on its strongest individual, but on something much less visible?

In this Observation, we explore that question.