A Circle Of Wadi Life

Amidst the scorching sun I walked a few kilometres through the winding wadi system behind Hatta when I landed on the edge of a pool of water.

Any pool is the lifeline for all plants and animals that live within a few kilometres of such an area.

A pool in summer is one of the best natural laboratories in the UAE.

In a pool ecosystem we have primary producers or green plants that convert solar energy into food or chemical energy.

Plants without chlorophyll such as fungi do not produce their own food but get nourishment through parasitism or eating dead and decaying material. Bacteria and viruses do the same.

All animals in a wadi pool are dependent on the plants.
The small animals and insects are primary consumers dependent on primary producers like the algae and other plants. Beetles and insects are in turn eaten by fish, toads and birds. So, these are secondary consumers.

The top animals die a natural death and their bodies are converted into organic and inorganic material by the action of the bacteria and fungi who feed on them.

The life, the processes of eating and being eaten appear as a universal and natural phenomenon.

If you visit a wadi pool now you can see how this natural laboratory demonstrates ecology in action.