Calls from the Wild

Our series starts with Megan Jones, digital editor at WPLN in Nashville. Her passion for plants and animals started as a child making mud pies, and bloomed as a naturalist in New Mexico. She explains that a signal species is any living thing whose presence, absence, success or failure tells us something important about the ecosystem itself. Then we visit freshwater mussels in Kentucky and bats in West Virginia, and meet the conservationists who are working to help them.

Nature is often a source of comfort. For much of the year, we can count on birds chirping, butterflies hovering near flowers and squirrels scurrying up trees.

But sometimes we may notice something different about our wildlife neighbors. An armadillo makes its way into your backyard. A bear starts showing up at your trash can. Thick vines swallow a forested hillside in town. Or maybe you’re seeing less of a critter that once seemed abundant.

These are examples of signal species. The behaviors of animals, plants and other organisms can tell us a lot about our changing world. Will we listen?

Coming soon from the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, Calls from the Wild will explore these signals, the effects of human activity on ecosystems and how we can all play a role in maintaining the natural beauty so many of us count on.