Landfauna

Landfauna refers to animals that spend the majority of their life cycles on land rather than in aquatic environments. This category includes terrestrial vertebrates such as mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians that have adapted to life on solid ground, as well as a vast array of invertebrates including insects, arachnids, myriapods, and many mollusks and annelids. Landfauna inhabit a wide range of terrestrial ecosystems from deserts and grasslands to forests, mountains, and urban areas.

Adaptations among landfauna are diverse and reflect the physical and climatic challenges of terrestrial habitats. Common traits include respiratory structures for breathing air (lungs or tracheae), limbs or locomotor appendages for movement on solid substrates, integuments that reduce water loss, and sensory systems tuned to airborne or substrate-borne cues. Behavioral and physiological adaptations—such as burrowing, nocturnality, migration, and metabolic regulation—allow species to exploit ecological niches and cope with temperature and moisture variability.

Landfauna play essential roles in ecosystem functioning as pollinators, seed dispersers, predators, decomposers, and ecosystem engineers. Many species face threats from habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, climate change, and overexploitation. Conservation measures include habitat protection, restoration, legal protections, and species management aimed at sustaining biodiversity and the ecological services that landfauna provide.