Shazia Anwer
OUR natural habitat consists of sophisticated network of semiotic scaffolding, the operation of this semiotic control operate on different levels from biology to physiology – from chemical to environmental domains on an extremely diverse level. The process known as semiotic causation in the field of bio-semiotics; bio-semiotics explains the complicated network of cues between organisms and an intelligent interaction between organisms on multiple levels. What as a homo-sapiens we fail to understand is the importance of the existing of other living things for our own survival? The constant denial mode towards the immense dependence on eco-system has brought many organisms on the verge of extinction.
We require understanding our habitat as an intelligible place; by doing so we could understand the interconnection between elements from cellular to skeleton level. All the elements interact with each other, in the process they get affected and influenced by other elements and being highly dependent on extended network of semiotic system, change in one element triggers a chain of events and results in a casualty and disaster.
Temporal relationship in ecosystem, in the cases of any outer interruption, is naturally capable of designing/regenerating missing cues and at time these cue or signs could contain irrelevant or false information because of the wrong sending or receiving transmitters, this can be well observed in natural habitat; certain type of plants, birds, animals coexist due to their semiotic causation. Scientifically they transmit information and interact with each other by means of cues, one missing link means interruption in information flow and could result in miscommunication or lack of communication and could destroy that particular habitat. Each and every organism naturally coexisting in certain habitat can only survive, thrive and evolve if they remain exiting together. Mangrove ecosystem is the best observatory point to study bio-semiotics. The entire mangrove ecosystem was exiting in harmony till it get interrupted by the element those don’t belong there. Pakistan has 0.6 million hectares of mangrove ecosystem considered among the ten largest in the world, spans on the coastal line of Sindh and Baluchistan. Mangroves’ of Pakistan consist of hundreds of exotics and indigenes species.
Vast Indus Delta due to multiple natural and human factors got interrupted. The wide range of mangrove ecosystem is remote and difficult to access but the areas close to human habitat are getting influenced by the domestic animal grazing and non-eco friendly fishing. Another notable reason is deterioration of water level in river Sindh due to irrigation channels. Mangrove forests are under the control of forestry and fishery department and being managed under ‘Working Plan of Mangrove Forests of Indus Delta.
Unfortunately with the time passing these forests are converting into muddy creeks filled with salty waters, as a semioticion I couldn’t find the reason in one single aspect rather it is result of series of contributing factors. Flora and fauna just like any other natural habitat react to each other’ in an intelligible manner, not only they observe each other’s behaviour they also scaffold each other and continuous scaffolding of centauries transfer from one generation to the next on cellular level. This is a well studied phenomena under the name tag of evolutionary studies but the point to understand is why and how a natural process of evolution sometimes exhibit itself crudely in the form of sheer distension of an entire species. We all believe in the “survival for the fittest” which I find very cruel because in my opinion it doesn’t happen naturally, there must be some wrong doings no matter in whatever forms, which leave the weaker elements vulnerable and prone to get affected.
The concept of co-existing requires at least a certain amount of collaboration between organism families. As stated before one influence the other and absence of one influence the others on worst level, one missing or false cue affect the immediate next receiver making it confused, misplaced and forcing it to generate next distorted single, no doubt this process starts from the most vulnerable but capable of engulfing the entire echo-system.
Let our echo-system exits as it meant to be, displacement of organisms create unrecoverable damage, don’t forget this could reach us; it is just the matter of time. We cannot rectify our mistakes and cleans our guilty conscious by prompting the idea of survival for the fittest. All organisms are supposed to be fit in their particular habitat until an outer element natural or manmade not meant to be there, force its exiting and distort the harmonious interaction between them. Let it be the way it be, nature is an extremely intelligible place thus capable of surviving on its own.
—The writer is freelance columnist.
