A geographic ecosystem is an area in which a diverse array of plants, animals, and other organisms coexist together. Ecosystems can be as large as a desert or as small as a pond, and contain living things and non-living things like rocks, sand and humidity.

Every individual piece of an ecosystem depends on all the other pieces. You alter one part and there will be ramifications throughout that ecosystem. A change in the temperature of an ecosystem will impact what plants and animals can grow and live there. A change in human growth and expansion, means we can encroach on, and in some cases overtake, ecosystems causing their biodiversity to suffer. The depletion of the permafrost in Siberia warms up the ground leading to more vegetation and larches. And of course each ecosystem is connected to another ecosystem, so the complexity of outcomes is interconnected, wide ranging and sometimes difficult to calculate or even notice.

Historically trees have been a vital part of many ecosystems on the planet. And historically trees quite like hanging around in groups. When that happens other things happen, such as –

1. Increased biodiversity for plants, animals, micro-organisms.

2. Reduction of soil erosion by using roots to anchor both tree and surrounding soil preventing it from washing away. (It’s no coincidence that landslides occur more often in areas that have been logged.)

3. Increased filtering of water in the soil – collecting water and releasing it slowly to the surrounding environment, reducing flooding. More than 3/4 of the world’s accessible fresh water comes from forest catchments.

4. Sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide through a tree’s stomata, breaking it down into glucose for its own use and then releasing oxygen through transpiration/ evaporation back through the stomata.

5. Changes to local weather and climate – forests can affect humidity, temperature and rainfall both regionally and globally.

Why do we need biodiversity in ecosystems?

Ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, mangrove swamps and the oceans regulate climate, natural hazards, extreme weather events, air quality, the quantity and quality of fresh water, pollination and seed dispersal, pests and diseases, soils, ocean acidification, and the creation and maintenance of habitats. The whole surface of Earth is a series of connected ecosystems, from oceans to peatlands to deserts. Often, distant ecosystems rely on each other in unexpected ways. For example, each year the Amazon Rainforest is fertilized from phosphorous contained in around 22,000 tons of dust carried by the wind from the Sahara Desert, thousands of miles away. For thousands of years people have coexisted with many ecosystems, but as human populations have grown, our encroachment on ecosystems has caused their rich biodiversity and delicate balance to suffer (which if we’re being self-serving about it, has in turn limited their ability to deliver vital services for humanity.)

“Trees are special living things. They can grow to huge heights, they regularly live for hundreds of years. Most interestingly they connect and communicate with each other, often through mycorrhizal networks, sharing nutrients, water and even, bizarrely to us, caring for each other. At a time when ‘longevity’ is a concept we struggle to identify with I think it pertinent to celebrate the humble but extraordinary tree, giving it centre stage within a musical art-work. This project creates a new mycorrhizal- like network, regardless of national borders, by joining communities and trees in a metaphorical line, running approximately 2500 miles, showing music and ecology working together as catalysts for positive change, and leaving an interesting and important legacy.”

Graham Fitkin