Life defines our planet, but until recently its ability to flourish has remained a mystery. New scientific discoveries can now reveal the improbable connections, bizarre behavioural strategies and intricate mechanisms that make life on Earth possible. Discover why the Brazil nut tree depends on a sharp-toothed rodent for its existence. Find out why elephants are crucial to keeping the East African grasslands in shape. And why an intricate relationship between hawksbill turtles and sponges is vital to the health of the coral reef. Using high-end and cutting edge filming techniques, How Life Works discovers the secrets of our most crucial habitats and reveals why they are so special.
Seasonal forests are special. Their ecosystems have to cope with drastic change twice a year, in Spring and Autumn. Not only do the individual inhabitants have to deal with that change, but the entire ecosystem has to transform itself at exactly the same time – and it can only do this if all the animals work in perfect synchronicity.
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January 1, 2012
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Season 1 • 4 episodes
This film transports us around the emerald band that encircles our planet – our jungles. And begins by tackling one of the biggest puzzles about the world’s rainforests: why do these places have such a bewildering variety of life, far greater than any other habitat on Earth?
In this episode, we travel to the savannahs of Kenya; the grasslands of Australia; and the Cerrado of Brazil to witness how one of our most important ecosystems works – grasslands. In Kenya we witness the surprisingly important role that rhinos play in making the grasslands fit for antelope. In the Brazilian Cerrado, we reveal how maned wolves get by on a low nitrogen diet, with the help of an odd dietary supplement – a fruit.
Seasonal forests are special. Their ecosystems have to cope with drastic change twice a year, in Spring and Autumn. Not only do the individual inhabitants have to deal with that change, but the entire ecosystem has to transform itself at exactly the same time – and it can only do this if all the animals work in perfect synchronicity.
In this, the final episode, we follow water on a journey that will take us across the world – from the remote mountain streams, via luscious wetlands and swamps, to coral reefs and the deep ocean. We begin high in the mountains of Iceland, in the North Atlantic. We then travel across the world to South America, to the world’s greatest wetland – The Pantanal.
