Maggots are critical to a healthy environment. Here’s why.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 7, 2023

Our world would be a very different place if not for maggots. Ecosystems would be starved of nutrients. The landscape would be littered with the bodies of the dead — animals and plants. That’s because maggots play a crucial role in decomposition — the process of breaking down dead organic tissue and getting its carbon, water and minerals back into circulation so living plants and animals can use them.