This dark mix of dead plant material is home to an amazing number of organisms. You won't see many of these animals, even if you pick up or kick the debris around with your foot. But by using traps especially designed by entomologists to find small creatures in leaf litter, your class will discover a very populated, diverse world of animals that they have probably never seen before. In this section, your class will make several simple traps to investigate leaf litter and catch a variety of insects and non-insect arthropods. This vast variety and abundance of all kinds of living organisms is referred to as biodiversity .
Some habitats have a greater biodiversity than others.
The biodiversity of a habitat frequently reveals how healthy it is. A lower biodiversity often indicates that a habitat no longer has the space, food, or shelter needed to support a variety and abundance of organisms or it may signify other environmental problems. Even in healthy Florida scrub, the biodiversity is not as great as you might expect. The harsh conditions of scrub are impossible for many organisms to endure. Only plants and animals specially adapted to dry, hot sandy conditions can survive.