In animals, stripes serve to provide camouflage or warn predators. At the scale of landscapes, stripes reveal differences among plants in animals in their ability to deal with difficult environments, predation, or competition for space, as marine biologist Amy Johnson explains.. Look for stripes the next time you climb a mountain or visit the beach. Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Emeritus Nathaniel T. Wheelwright presents this latest Nature Moments video.

If you want to make your own natural history observations, The Naturalist’s Notebook (Storey Publishing, 2017) by Nathaniel T. Wheelwright and Bernd Heinrich (Storey Publishing, 2017) provides guidance and a systematic format, with 100% of royalties going to conservation and environmental education.

Check out more Nature Moments.