Insects represent the largest part of the Earth's known biological diversity, comprising over half of all named species (Grimaldi & Engel, 2005). In terrestrial ecosystems, they are well known for
performing many important functions such as herbivory, predation, parasitism, pollination, and decomposition. These ecosystem services are critical to sustaining healthy plant diversity and soil composition. Insects are also a food source for many other species, and constitute a vital part of the food web.

Unfortunately, there are few complete summaries of the insect components of most ecosystems, including those found on Mt. Tam, due to their unparalleled diversity, small size, and the cryptic habits of the vast majority of species. All-taxa bioblitzes involving experts and interested community members could produce valuable information on the insect fauna of select habitats of interest over a number of years. menos ↑