Introduction
Every
living thing depends on other creatures. Together they form a community,
a living web, in which all strands contribute to the stability of the whole.
Missouri harbors an abundance of distinct natural communities — nearly 200, in all. We have glades, prairies, savannas, caves, forests, wetlands and many others. About 3,000 kinds of plants and nearly 20,000 types of insects, mammals, fish and other creatures populate our natural communities.
The habitat of many of these species is diminishing or endangered. Our human tendency to develop and work the land often threatens our state's natural diversity. Plowing prairies, clearing forests, draining wetlands and polluting streams have driven many species into extinction and sometimes destroyed entire natural communities.
The Missouri Department of Conservation works constantly and vigilantly to protect and manage our remaining natural communities and, whenever possible, to restore habitats that have completely disappeared.
These web pages describes some of the Conservation Department's many wildlife diversity projects. Our researchers and field staff, cooperating with other state and federal agencies, universities, volunteers and other conservation organizations, are studying, monitoring and preserving tiny insects, seldom-seen fish and inconspicuous plants, believing that every strand in the web of life is of ultimate importance and deserves our attention.
