Gophers dropped near Mt St. Helens for one day cause a gigantic bloom of plant life 40 years later
In 1982, two years after the Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption, scientists decided to do an experiment: They dropped six gophers into one meter square enclosures near the eruption with the hope the animals’ digging for one day would bring good soil close enough to the surface to encourage the return of plant life.
The results forty-plus years later:
Six years after their trip, there were over 40,000 plants thriving where the gophers had gotten to work, while the surrounding land remained, for the most part, barren. Studying the area over 40 years later, the team found they had left one hell of a legacy. “Plots with historic gopher activity harbored more diverse bacterial and fungal communities than the surrounding old-growth forests,” the team explained. “We also found more diverse fungal communities in these long-term lupine gopher plots than in forests that were historically clearcut, prior to the 1980 eruption, nearby at Bear Meadow.”
“In the 1980s, we were just testing the short-term reaction,” Allen added. “Who would have predicted you could toss a gopher in for a day and see a residual effect 40 years later?”
You can read the published paper here. It appears the gophers’ action activated the microbiological life in the soil, which in turn made it easier for plant life to return.
The potential benefits of this research is gigantic, especially in areas that have been devastated by any number of natural and man made disasters.
In 1982, two years after the Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption, scientists decided to do an experiment: They dropped six gophers into one meter square enclosures near the eruption with the hope the animals’ digging for one day would bring good soil close enough to the surface to encourage the return of plant life.
The results forty-plus years later:
Six years after their trip, there were over 40,000 plants thriving where the gophers had gotten to work, while the surrounding land remained, for the most part, barren. Studying the area over 40 years later, the team found they had left one hell of a legacy. “Plots with historic gopher activity harbored more diverse bacterial and fungal communities than the surrounding old-growth forests,” the team explained. “We also found more diverse fungal communities in these long-term lupine gopher plots than in forests that were historically clearcut, prior to the 1980 eruption, nearby at Bear Meadow.”
“In the 1980s, we were just testing the short-term reaction,” Allen added. “Who would have predicted you could toss a gopher in for a day and see a residual effect 40 years later?”
You can read the published paper here. It appears the gophers’ action activated the microbiological life in the soil, which in turn made it easier for plant life to return.
The potential benefits of this research is gigantic, especially in areas that have been devastated by any number of natural and man made disasters.