Nature isn’t just a random collection of plants and animals — it’s a vast web of connections in which everything depends on everything else. This episode explains what biodiversity really means, how ecosystems hold together, and why the loss of a single species can ripple through an entire living system.

You’ll come away understanding what an ecosystem is and how food webs work, what “keystone species” are and why they matter far beyond their numbers, and why the sheer variety of life is something worth protecting.

Talking Science is sponsored by Kinsoft. Visit www.kinsoft.com.au

Further reading: Australian Museum – biodiversity resources; David Attenborough, A Life on Our Planet; the “Yellowstone wolves” trophic cascade research.