Nature's Microworlds: Insect Specials

Nature's Microworlds: Insect Specials explores insects and their close relatives the arachnids and crustaceans and the connections relationships they have with us, our planet and with each other, ultimately to understand how this group holds the key to life itself inside Nature's Microworlds. Living at the heart of nature's microworlds this very special group accounts for 80% of all species on our planet, and some question whether humans could survive on earth without them.
  • Title ID 92-NMI
  • Science, Biology, Core Science
  • 3 Programs
  • 4 Supplemental Files
  • 10th Grade through Post Secondary
  • Published by The BBC
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Included Programs
Supplemental Files

Included Programs

Episode 1 - Them and UsRunning time is 30 minutes

Few people know how intricately linked our lives have become with arthopods that without them life as we know it would not exist? Episode 1 explores the necessary and yet often times annoying relationship between humans and earth's most numerous species, the arthropods, including honey bees, driver ants, silk worm, locusts, Anopheles mosquito, aphids, money spiders and army ants.

Episode 2 - Making WorldsRunning time is 30 minutes

Episode 2 examines arthropods that make it possible for life on earth, including Grass cutter ants, krill, the arthropods, termites, ants, sundew, mosquitoes, cockroaches, dung beetles, blow flies, spiders, triangle spider, bees and the euglossine bee. From baking deserts and lush rainforests to open oceans and dark caves, though seemingly insignificant in size, the influence they have on our planet is immense, making it possible for reptiles, amphibians and mammals to exist.

Episode 3 - Secrets to Their SuccessRunning time is 30 minutes

Arthropods, including horseshoe crabs, crayfish, coconut crab, the fairy wasp, cabbage aphid, aphid, honey bees, ants, the bolas spider, blister beetle, digger bee, alcon blue butterfly and the ichneumon wasp, are the most abundant and diverse group of animals in the world. They inhabit every continent and every ocean, from the harsh climate of Antarctica to the driest of deserts around the equator; from the lushest jungles to the highest mountain peaks. There are an estimated 10 million species, more than all the other animal groups combined. Episode 3 investigates what arthropods are, where they come from and how they have succeeded through genetic mutation, diversity, exploitation, and co-evolution.

Supplemental Files

MARC Records for NMI
MARC records for the series Nature's Microworlds: Insect Specials
Transcription for Episode 1 - Them and Us
Transcription for Episode 2 - Making Worlds
Transcription for Episode 3 - Secrets to Their Success