SIGNAL SPECIES

What can wildlife tell us about our ecosystem — and will we listen?

A “signal” or “indicator” species is an organism that can tell us about changes occurring in an ecosystem.

We’re talking bears encroaching on urban areas, armadillos on the move, invasive vines like kudzu growing at accelerated rates and bats changing their migratory patterns.

These are all examples of signal species sending us signals — but are we paying attention? And if we are, is there a way to contribute to scientific findings? (Spoiler alert: Yes! iNaturalist will be entering the chat at the end of our series.)

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This series publishes on Mondays in June, with full episodes of This Is Nashville on June 2 and June 23.

Stories in this series

Black bears are threatened by climate change. How can we help?

This is Nashville episodes

June 2: Taking cues from black bears and other signal species
Coming June 23: How citizen scientists can document signal species

Reporters: Catherine Eggers, Jacqui Sieber, Giselle Rhoden, Eric Douglas
Producers: Megan Jones, Andrew Henderson, Jared Kunish
Editor: John Boyle
Additional editing: Tony Gonzalez, Megan Jones, Tasha A.F. Lemley.