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taste like acid. The equipment was not fancy—insufficient for
Photo Gallery - Undertakers, Farmers and Predators
astrophysics—and yet to do good biology, it was enough.
Without the ants and dung beetles,
New York would be knee deep in
dog poop, cookie crumbs and dead
pigeons and roaches. “These are
the undertakers, farmers, and
predators that keep the city alive.”
I decided to start off by going to Inwood Hill Park with one of the
groups. Other students had already been to Central Park and
Riverside Park. Inwood seemed more remote and untrammeled.
My group and I descended the 10 floors of the building and went
outside. Now we would trek to the field site. When I have worked
in forests elsewhere—say Bolivia, Ghana or Australia—getting to
a field site can be a real challenge, long hikes, wet socks, blisters,
boils and bad buses. In New York, we took the subway.
The day seemed a little too chilly for discovering many insects. I
wanted the students to find something, even if it wasn’t an actual
discovery, at least some species they had not noticed before,
something that was new to them if not to New York. Inwood Hill
Park was, I thought, our best hope.
Just like in other landscapes, ants provide important ecosystem
functions in New York City. Here ants are taking care of a roach carcass.
Once near Inwood, we exited the underground and headed for
the park entrance where the teaching assistants gave one last
lesson. I heard someone say, as I walked ahead, “If you see
poison ivy don’t touch it. Wipe your hands in the dirt, if you do
touch the poison ivy. If there is broken glass in your plot, let us
know, and we will find you a new plot.” In groups, students sifted
leaf litter onto white sheets and, as quickly as they could, sucked
iv