{"id":125176,"date":"2024-11-13T01:33:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T18:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=125176"},"modified":"2024-11-13T01:33:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T18:33:26","slug":"gophers-brought-mount-st-helens-back-to-life-in-a-single-day-following-devastating-eruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=125176","title":{"rendered":"Gophers Brought Mount St. Helens Back to Life in a Single Day\u2013Following Devastating Eruption"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_211589\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-211589\" style=\"width: 696px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-211589\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-1024x524.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"696\" height=\"356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-1024x524.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-326x167.jpg 326w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-768x393.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-696x356.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-1068x546.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-821x420.jpg 821w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959-530x271.jpg 530w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Photo-by-Georg-Eiermann-on-Unsplash-e1731395324959.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-211589\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Georg Eiermann on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, lava incinerated anything living for miles around. As an experiment, scientists dropped gophers onto parts of the scorched mountain for only 24 hours. The benefits from that single day were undeniable\u2014and still visible 40 years later.<\/p>\n<p>Once the blistering blast of ash and debris cooled, scientists theorized that gophers might be able to help regenerate lost plant and animal life on the mountain by digging up beneficial bacteria and fungi. Two years after the eruption, they tested this theory, and were proved right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re often considered pests, but we thought they would take old soil, move it to the surface, and that would be where recovery would occur,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ucr.edu\/articles\/2024\/11\/05\/how-gophers-brought-mount-st-helens-back-life-one-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> UC Riverside microbiologist Michael Allen.<\/p>\n<p>But the scientists did not expect the benefits of this experiment would still be visible in the soil today, in 2024. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/microbiomes\/articles\/10.3389\/frmbi.2024.1399416\/full?utm_source=F-NTF&amp;utm_medium=EMLX&amp;utm_campaign=PRD_FEOPS_20170000_ARTICLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paper<\/a> out this week in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes details an enduring change in the communities of fungi and bacteria where gophers had been, versus nearby land where they were never introduced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the 1980s, we were just testing the short-term reaction,\u201d said Allen. \u201cWho would have predicted you could toss a gopher in for a day and see a residual effect 40 years later?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 1983, Allen and Utah State University\u2019s James McMahon helicoptered to an area where the lava had turned the land into collapsing slabs of porous pumice. At that time, there were only about a dozen plants that had learned to live on these slabs. A few seeds had been dropped by birds, but the resulting seedlings struggled.<\/p>\n<p>After scientists dropped a few local gophers on two pumice plots for a day, the land exploded again with new life. Six years post-experiment, there were 40,000 plants thriving on the gopher plots. The untouched land remained mostly barren.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_211590\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-211590\" style=\"width: 696px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-211590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"696\" height=\"464\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-326x217.jpg 326w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR-530x353.jpg 530w, https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/An-unhappy-gopher-and-plant-near-the-gopher-enclosure-fence-1982.-Mike-AllenUCR.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-211590\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An unhappy gopher and plant near the gopher enclosure fence, 1982 \u2013 credit, Mike Allen\/UCR, released.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>All this was possible because of what isn\u2019t always visible to the naked eye. Mycorrhizal fungi penetrate into plant root cells to exchange nutrients and resources. They can help protect plants from pathogens in the soil, and critically, by providing nutrients in barren places, they help plants establish themselves and survive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the exception of a few weeds, there is no way most plant roots are efficient enough to get all the nutrients and water they need by themselves. The fungi transport these things to the plant and get carbon they need for their own growth in exchange,\u201d Allen said.<\/p>\n<p>A second aspect of this study further underscores how critical these microbes are to the regrowth of plant life after a natural disaster. On one side of the mountain was an old-growth forest. Ash from the volcano blanketed the trees, trapping solar radiation and causing needles on the pine, spruce, and Douglas firs to overheat and fall off. Scientists feared the loss of the needles would cause the forest to collapse.<\/p>\n<p><strong>INSPIRING TRANSFORMATIONS: <\/strong><a title=\"Inspired by Avatar and His Asthma, Indian Man Creates \u2018Biosphere\u2019 to Connect Adjacent Land to National Park\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/inspired-by-avatar-and-his-asthma-indian-man-creates-biosphere-to-connect-adjacent-land-to-national-park\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Inspired by Avatar and His Asthma, Indian Man Creates \u2018Biosphere\u2019 to Connect Adjacent Land to National Park<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese trees have their own mycorrhizal fungi that picked up nutrients from the dropped needles and helped fuel rapid tree regrowth,\u201d said UCR environmental microbiologist and paper co-author Emma Aronson. \u201cThe trees came back almost immediately in some places. It didn\u2019t all die like everyone thought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the other side of the mountain, the scientists visited a forest that had been clearcut prior to the eruption. Logging had removed all the trees for acres, so naturally there were no dropped needles to feed soil fungi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere still isn\u2019t much of anything growing in the clearcut area,\u201d Aronson said. \u201cIt was shocking looking at the old-growth forest soil and comparing it to the dead area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE MIRACULOUS FUNGI: <\/strong><a title=\"Mushrooms Help Turn Toxic Brownfields into Blooming Meadows\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/mushrooms-help-turn-toxic-brownfields-into-blooming-meadows\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Mushrooms Help Turn Toxic Brownfields into Blooming Meadows<\/a><\/p>\n<p>These results underscore how much there is to learn about rescuing distressed ecosystems, said lead study author and University of Connecticut mycologist Mia Maltz, who was a postdoctoral scholar in Aronson\u2019s lab at UCR when the study began.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cannot ignore the interdependence of all things in nature, especially the things we cannot see like microbes and fungi,\u201d Maltz said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SHARE This Unlikely Hero Of Mount St. Helens\u2019 Ecosystem On Social Media\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\nif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\nn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script',\n'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n fbq('init', '1923853574557163'); \nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodnewsnetwork.org\/gophers-brought-mount-st-helens-back-to-life-in-a-single-day-following-devastating-eruption\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Georg Eiermann on Unsplash When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, lava incinerated anything living for miles around. As an experiment, scientists dropped gophers onto parts of the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=125176\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=125176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=125176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=125176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=125176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}