By By Whit Gibbons Columnist,Photo Courtesy of Parker W. Gibbons

Copyright postandcourier

A trophic cascade is not to be taken lightly. Simply put, in an ecosystem a trophic level is the complex of organisms in any given tier of the food chain. The trophic level below many small animals consists of the plants they eat. Carnivores that eat herbivores depend ultimately on the plants the herbivores eat. Destroy the plant food base and the ecosystem goes into a downward spiral. If phytoplankton disappeared from the ocean, so would the tiny krill that eat them, followed by the whales that depend on krill for a constant food supply. We often overlook the importance of small creatures at the base of a food chain.

An absence of spiders might be welcome news to an arachnophobe (which I was, until I decided not to be). The environmental message is an ominous one. We should not take lightly the disappearance of top-level predators like spiders. It may mean we have eliminated their prey. The food web of countless animals depends on insects for food. Spiders are no exception. If they are on the decline, it probably means a lot of other, more popular animals, like butterflies, are threatened as well.

Aside from black widows, brown recluses and other species whose bites can be harmful to people, spiders are good to have around. They play a vital role in the environment. Autumn is an ideal time to find spiders and their webs in the woods or around your yard. Instead of knocking down any webs you find, stay a while and observe. You may find it more entertaining than TV or Facebook, especially if a tiger swallowtail butterfly comes nonchalantly flitting by.