Dear Tweeters,

On a recent birding trip, a debate arose about plants and animals. The question is, would there be a greater number of plants species, or a greater number of animal species, in a given habitat?

The other fellow stoutly maintained that, in any given environment, there will be more species of plants than of animals. I would have thought that, at least on land, there would be more species of INSECTS than of plants and other animals combined, no?

In saltwater environments, I would think the animal species would vastly outnumber the plants, but the protists would outnumber the other kingdoms.

In freshwater, I am not so sure.

I have no idea how the bacteria would fit into such a ranking.

Any ideas?

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch?Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA?garybletsch at yahoo.com?Mentre che li occhi per la fronda verde
ficcava ?o s? come far suole
chi dietro a li uccellin sua vita perde, lo pi? che padre mi dicea: ?Figliuole,
vienne oramai, ch? ?l tempo che n?? imposto
pi? utilmente compartir si vuole?.??