When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, lava incinerated anything living for miles around.
As an experiment, scientists later dropped gophers onto parts of the scorched mountain for only 24 hours.
Once the blistering blast of ash and debris cooled, scientists theorized that, by digging up beneficial bacteria and fungi, gophers might be able to help regenerate lost plant and animal life on the mountain.
After scientists dropped a few local gophers on two pumice plots for a day, the land exploded again with new life.
Logging had removed all the trees for acres, so naturally there were no dropped needles to feed soil fungi.
Upon Mount St. When Helens erupted in 1980, the surrounding lava destroyed all life. Afterwards, scientists conducted a 24-hour experiment in which they dropped gophers onto portions of the charred mountain. Forty years later, the advantages of that one day remain evident.
Researchers hypothesized that gophers could help restore the mountain’s lost plant and animal life by excavating beneficial bacteria and fungi after the scorching blast of ash and debris subsided. They tested this theory two years after the eruption.
Michael Allen, a microbiologist at UC Riverside, stated, “They’re frequently regarded as pests, but we believed that they would take old soil, move it to the surface, and that would be where recovery would occur.”.
They had a point. However, the scientists did not anticipate that the results of this experiment would still be evident in the soil in 2024. A study that was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes describes a long-lasting shift in the bacterial and fungal communities in areas where gophers were present as opposed to nearby areas where they were never introduced.
“We were just testing the short-term reaction in the 1980s,” Allen remarked. “For forty years, who would have thought that throwing a gopher in for a day could have such a lasting impact?”.
Allen and James McMahon of Utah State University flew by helicopter to a location in 1983 where the land was destroyed by lava and replaced with crumbling blocks of porous pumice. Fewer than a dozen plants had adapted to survive on these slabs at that time. Birds had dropped some seeds, but the resulting seedlings had a hard time growing.
After a day of scientists dropping a few local gophers on two pumice plots, the land exploded with new life once more. The gopher plots had 40,000 flourishing plants six years after the experiment. Most of the untouched land was still bare.
What isn’t always apparent to the naked eye made all of this possible. Mycorrhizal fungi exchange resources and nutrients by penetrating plant root cells. In addition to helping plants fend off soil pathogens, they are essential for establishing and sustaining plants by supplying nutrients in arid areas.
“Most plant roots are insufficiently effective to obtain all the nutrients and water they require on their own, with the exception of a few weeds. According to Allen, the fungi deliver these materials to the plant in return for the carbon they require for growth.
The importance of these microbes to the recovery of plant life following a natural disaster is further highlighted by a second feature of this study. The mountain featured an old-growth forest on one side. Volcanic ash covered the trees, trapping sunlight and causing the pine, spruce, and Douglas fir needles to overheat and fall off. It was feared by scientists that the forest would collapse due to the loss of the needles.
That’s not what took place. “These trees have their own mycorrhizal fungi that picked up nutrients from the dropped needles and helped fuel rapid tree regrowth,” said Emma Aronson, co-author of the paper and environmental microbiologist at UCRs. “In certain locations, the trees returned nearly immediately. It didn’t all perish as everyone believed. “..”.
The scientists visited a forest that had been cleared before the eruption on the opposite side of the mountain. Since logging had cut down acres of trees, there were naturally no fallen needles to provide food for soil fungi.
Aronson stated, “The clearcut area still has very little vegetation growing in it.”. “Seeing the soil from the old growth forest and contrasting it with the dead area was startling. “..”.
According to lead study author and University of Connecticut mycologist Mia Maltz, who was a postdoctoral scholar in Aronson’s lab at UCR at the time of the study’s start, these findings highlight how much more can be learned about saving distressed ecosystems.
“We cannot overlook the interconnectedness of everything in nature, particularly the invisible things like fungi and microbes,” Maltz stated.
You may also like...
