Episode 5 of PETRI DISH! This episode is a prequel of sorts to our upcoming 2 part series on CLIMATE CHANGE (oh no!). In this episode, Sean tries to discuss ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS with Nathan, who keeps calling these critters Environmental Engineers, which is 50% right. He seriously did it multiple times, just couldn't say ecological.Anyway, what's up with these engineer guys? They're animals (including humans!) that shape, maintain, and even destroy ecosystems on a big enough scale to impact the world around them -- changing the landscape, the plants, and the kinds/number of species that live around them. Listen as we talk about megaherbivores like the Elephant, smaller dudes like beavers, even smaller dudes like termites, and then wrap it up with some navel gazing about humans!Email us questions or comments about episodes at petridishpod -at- gmail.com. Hit us up on Patreon at patreon.com/petridish, where $1 a month earns you the patron gift of surprising the shit out of Sean, Nathan, and Stacey. References! Does anyone ever look at these? Some of them could be fun...https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/D44E0079BFF2661218B93083F070B562/S0266467498000364a.pdf/moundbuilding_termite_macrotermes_michaelseni_as_an_ecosystem_engineer.pdfhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/fwb.12487https://www.pnas.org/content/113/23/6388.fullhttps://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/03/1491/302445/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10682-016-9821-zhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781118858615https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/98/3/603/3855617https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2018.00003/full#B74https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X1100314Xhttps://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/285824https://www.nature.com/articles/srep32807https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-007-9109-9https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.13139.xhttps://bioone.org/journals/Southeastern-Naturalist/volume-3/issue-4/1528-7092(2004)003[0583:CONAAA]2.0.CO;2/Characterization-of-Natural-and-Artificial-Alligator-Holes/10.1656/1528-7092(2004)003[0583:CONAAA]2.0.CO;2.full