Why the diversity of life on Martha’s Vineyard should matter to all of us
Walk through the open meadows of Long Point Wildlife Refuge, explore the woods of Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, spend the morning along the shores of Sengekontacket Pond, or simply step out your door and listen, and you’ll encounter an extraordinary variety of life. Native plants, pollinators, birds, mammals, fungi, and countless other organisms share our Island with us, and despite our human-centric tendencies, they somehow persist.
This diversity of life is known as biodiversity; it is beautiful to observe. It supports the natural systems that sustain all of us. This is a truth, and yet it goes unnoticed, uncelebrated, and underappreciated. We often take the things we love most for granted: our loved ones, our homes, our food, the clothing on our backs, and especially the world we step out into every day. I know plenty of people who practice gratitude, and I have heard countless times how grateful they are to live in this beautiful place. Yet they give no thought as to why it’s beautiful; they just accept it as a given. Look deeper, and you will see that this beauty encompasses every living thing that helps keep our island ecosystems vital. Here are five ways biodiversity works for us, right here on Martha’s Vineyard.
1. Biodiversity Supports the Food We Eat
From the blueberries and huckleberries growing in our woodlands to the tomatoes and squash in our gardens, and throughout the multitude of farms across our island, much of the food we enjoy depends on healthy ecosystems and the organisms within them.
Bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, and other pollinators help flowering plants produce fruits and seeds. Birds and mammals disperse those seeds, allowing plants to spread and regenerate, while feeding on the insect larvae that, if uncontrolled, would devastate our crops and leave us struggling to find food.
On Martha’s Vineyard, native plants such as blueberries, raspberries, grapes, beach plums, hazelnuts, and serviceberries provide food for us and wildlife while also contributing to the Island’s ecological richness. Some of these plants even have special relationships with specific species of pollinators in what is called obligate mutualism.
Wildlife not only propagates and protects our food, but it IS our food. The fish, lobsters, shrimp, quahogs, and oysters we buy in our markets and eat in our restaurants are part of the biodiversity that sustains us and also happens to be a huge part of our economy.
Colletes validus, the blueberry cellophane bee, is an early spring pollinator that is highly effective at foraging on the flowers of blueberry plants. Photo: Matt Pelikan
When we support biodiversity, we help maintain the living systems that make food production possible.
2. Biodiversity Helps Protect Our Water and Soil
Clean water and healthy soil are essential to life, and biodiversity plays an important role in maintaining both. There is no other system on the island that is more affected by our choices than our water and soil, and biodiversity protects their integrity.
While many people may not be impressed by our sandy, nutrient-poor soils, our native plants and animals have no complaints. Every native species on our island has evolved to thrive here. Plants growing in our lean soils depend on other, more obsecure elements of our biodiversity: fungi, bacteria, and countless other organisms that break down organic matter and recycle nutrients to make them available to support growth.
Wetlands, ponds, forests, and other natural habitats help absorb rainfall, slow runoff, and filter pollutants before they reach our streams, ponds, groundwater, and coastal waters. The deep roots characteristic of our native plants stabilize soil, while organic matter and the organisms that live within it help maintain soil structure and fertility.
Here on the Island, the health of our coastal ponds and freshwater wetlands is intimately connected to the surrounding landscape. What happens in a yard, field, farm, or woodland can affect the water flowing through our watersheds and ultimately into the sounds and sea. The use of fertilizers and pesticides to support human-centric systems undermines the natural processes that would make these inputs unnecessary.
The role of native plants on our landscape cannot be understated. They are particularly valuable because they are adapted to local conditions and provide food and shelter for native wildlife. Their roots, leaves, and interactions with soil organisms contribute to functioning ecosystems. An economy built around native plants could transform the landscaping industry, currently locked into suburban standards, into an army of conservation stewards.
Protecting biodiversity on land also helps protect the waters throughout and surrounding Martha's Vineyard. Photo: D. Theodora
3. Biodiversity Keeps Ecosystems Healthy and Resilient
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with one another and with their environment. The more diverse that community, the more complex its web of relationships can be. And the more complex the web, the more resilient it is.
Different species perform different roles. Some pollinate plants, others decompose organic matter (leaves, logs, carrion), while still others control insect populations, disperse seeds, or provide food for wildlife.
Consider a Martha’s Vineyard mixed oak forest. Oaks support an extraordinary number of insects, including caterpillars that become food for nesting songbirds. Those birds, in turn, help sustain the next generation of wildlife. Fungi and soil organisms recycle the fallen leaves, returning nutrients to the ground.
When an ecosystem contains a variety of species and habitats, it may be better equipped to withstand disturbances such as drought, storms, disease, or the loss of an individual species. As our climate becomes more extreme, with colder winters and hotter summers, and as we attend meetings on what to do when a natural disaster occurs, we need to find more ways to support an ecological defense system that would naturally keep us safe.
Biodiversity gives nature more beneficial relationships between organisms and more ways to remain functional in the face of environmental change. Photo: Rich Couse
4. Biodiversity Helps Wildlife, and Us, Adapt to Change
Martha’s Vineyard is a place of continual environmental change. Storms reshape beaches. Droughts denude the landscape of color, stressing vegetation. Rising temperatures influence when plants flower and when animals migrate or breed.
Biodiversity helps ecosystems respond to these changes. Different species have different tolerances and adaptations. When conditions become difficult for one species, another may be better equipped to survive and continue performing an important ecological role. This is called the “Insurance Hypothesis": a diversity of species ensures that ecosystem functions will continue even if some species fail.
On an island, it’s not that simple. Some species have nowhere to retreat to, bound by an impassable body of water on all sides. Our island’s varied habitats, from pitch pine forests and sandplain grasslands to coastal heathlands, wetlands, and oak woods, support a wide range of species with different needs and strategies for survival. Maintaining these habitats gives wildlife more opportunities to find food, shelter, reproduce, and move across the landscape. This is where we can help the most vulnerable species.
The more habitat we protect and connect, the more opportunities we give nature to adapt. The Northern Long-eared Bat (pictured here) is a State Endangered Species that has specially adapted to hibernate through the winter on Martha's Vineyard. Photo: Luanne Johnson
5. Biodiversity Feeds Our Souls
Not every benefit of biodiversity can be measured in dollars, gallons of clean water, or number of species.
There is something deeply meaningful about hearing birdsong at dawn, or a chorus of spring peepers at night. Nothing else is quite as creatively inspiring as watching a feeding swarm of dragonflies undulating in golden light above a meadow, or discovering a tiny mushroom soft and fragile yet able to burst through the dark earth beneath an oak tree. The variety of life around us gives us opportunities to learn, explore, wonder, and feel connected to something larger than ourselves.
To observe nature is to observe immortality. It preceded us and will succeed us. Immerse yourself in it, and it is the closest you will ever be to something divine. Neglect it and spend your days wondering why the world is so mundane. Abuse it, and watch the world grow vapid and complacent, as we slowly lose the wildness that still lives within us all.
The natural beauty of Martha’s Vineyard is part of what makes this island home. Our beaches, forests, meadows, and ponds are not simply scenic backdrops. They are living communities, filled with relationships that have developed over thousands of years. When we allow biodiversity to thrive, it protects us, and we preserve these experiences for ourselves, our neighbors, and future generations.
What Can We Do to Support Biodiversity?
The good news is that we don’t need to own acres of conservation land to make a difference. Every yard, garden, business property, and community space can contribute to the larger ecological network.
Here are a few simple ways to help:
- Plant native species that provide food and shelter for local wildlife.
- Reduce lawn areas where practical and replace them with diverse native plant communities.
- Avoid pesticides whenever possible, particularly during periods when pollinators and other beneficial insects are active.
- Leave natural materials in place, including fallen leaves, dead wood, and stems that provide habitat.
- Protect existing trees and shrubs, especially mature native plants.
- Create connections between natural areas by providing habitat in yards.
- Learn about the species around you and share that knowledge with others. Check out the Martha's Vineyard Atlas of Life and use iNaturalist!
Biodiversity Starts at Home
Martha’s Vineyard is fortunate to have an extraordinary variety of habitats and wildlife. But protecting that diversity is not just the responsibility of conservation organizations or land managers. It is something we can all participate in, one property and one small action at a time.
At Natural Neighbors, we believe that private yards and gardens can serve as stepping stones for biodiversity, helping connect larger natural areas across the Island. Whether you plant a few native shrubs, allow part of your lawn to grow naturally, create a pollinator garden, or put up a nest box, your choices can contribute to the health of the broader ecological community.
If you would like to learn how to support biodiversity on your landscape, visit our website by clicking HERE, and we will help get you started on your journey! We will share our knowledge and resources at no cost to you and find many other ways for you to connect to the nature in your yard.
