Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?
The answer to last week’s mystery is a nurse log, pictured in photo below:
A nurse log is a fallen tree that rests on the forest floor. It absorbs rain like a sponge, and provides water and nutrients for new growth. Decaying wood makes an excellent substrate.
When a tree dies, it contains protein, fats, resins, and waxes, as well as minerals. Woody plants contain huge amounts of energy, mostly in the form of cellulose. During composition, all of these become available to other organisms.
Ants, beetles, and other invertebrates tunnel through moist, decaying wood and feed upon it. They create
valleys and openings where a tiny seed, drifting down from where it was released tens or hundreds of feet up in the air, can settle in. The forest floor is partly covered by ferns, mosses, fallen leaves and needles. As a result, chances are not high that a seed will land on exposed soil needed for germination. Seeds that land on decaying wood have a better chance at germinating.
It often takes several decades for a nurse log to decay completely, at which time the seedlings’ roots have become strong enough to support themselves. A tree constantly contributes to the forest until nothing remains of the tree.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
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