{"id":126948,"date":"2024-11-17T16:30:37","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T09:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126948"},"modified":"2024-11-17T16:30:37","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T09:30:37","slug":"40-years-ago-scientists-dropped-gophers-onto-a-volcano-today-theyre-tiny-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126948","title":{"rendered":"40 Years Ago, Scientists Dropped Gophers Onto a Volcano. Today, They&#8217;re Tiny Heroes."},"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 class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div class=\"caas-figure-with-pb\" style=\"max-height: 828px\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container\" style=\"padding-bottom:67%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caas-img has-preview\" alt=\"pocket gopher\" bad-src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/IbxYraOsmSGEEg1m4pYkKw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_popular_mechanics_812\/f8d7a5fd4b99150e0b51b05711858b04\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/IbxYraOsmSGEEg1m4pYkKw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_popular_mechanics_812\/f8d7a5fd4b99150e0b51b05711858b04\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\"><span class=\"caption\">Gophers Saved a Lava-Destroyed Ecosystem<\/span><span class=\"photo-credit\">Troy Harrison &#8211; Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<ul class=\"caas-list caas-list-bullet\">\n<li>\n<p>A new study reveals that an unconventional ecological intervention tactic is still providing benefits 40 years later<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>After the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens devastated the local environment, scientists set a few gophers loose on some patches of ground, hoping they would kick up bacteria and fungi<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>That uncovered fungi, particularly mycorrhizal fungi, created a microbial community that allowed plant life to better obtain and retain nutrients, and therefor thrive<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr\/>\n<p>It would probably pretty alarming to learn that, in the early 1980s, scientists decided to drop off a bunch of gophers at the site of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/environment\/g26014758\/most-dangerous-active-volcanoes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:a volcanic eruption;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">a volcanic eruption<\/a>. But don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s not as bad as it sounds.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.universityofcalifornia.edu\/news\/how-gophers-brought-mount-st-helens-back-life-one-day\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:a new report;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">a new report <\/a>from the University of California, this particular gopher-volcano encounter proved to be such a net positive that its effects are still being felt 40 years later.<\/p>\n<p>It starts with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/environment\/a1969\/mount-st-helens-history\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:eruption of Mount St. Helens;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">eruption of Mount St. Helens<\/a> in May of 1980. It was the most destructive volcanic event in American history, claiming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-2005-may-15-adna-helensvic15-story.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:57 lives;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">57 lives<\/a> and causing staggering ecological damage. Faced with a devastation that would take the local environment a substantial amount of time to recover from, scientists were open to unorthodox ideas that might speed the process along. So they did what any reasonable person would decide to do and tossed a couple of gophers at the issue. Seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, as laid out in the University of California\u2019s report, the thinking was \u201cby digging up beneficial bacteria and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/green-tech\/a62489218\/white-noise-fungi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:fungi;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">fungi<\/a>, gophers might be able to help regenerate lost plant and animal life on the mountain.\u201d So, just two years after the devastating eruption, that\u2019s exactly what scientists did. They gathered up some gophers, brought them to the eruption site, and let them do their gopher thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re often considered pests,\u201d notes UC Riverside microbiologist Michael Allen, \u201cbut we thought they would take old soil, move it to the surface, and that would be where recovery would occur.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before the gopher drop-off, only about a dozen plants were reported to have emerged from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/environment\/a21527670\/kilauea-hawaii-volcano-crystals-olivine-green\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:pumice slabs;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">pumice slabs<\/a> that Mount St. Helens eruption had turned the land into. But six years after the gophers were placed on two specific plots of pumice for a single day \u201cthere were 40,000 plants thriving.\u201d Meanwhile, the area around those plots, which had not been gopher-ed, was still barren.<\/p>\n<p>To see these changes six years on was impressive, but nobody could have imagined that the benefits of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/animals\/g518\/8-amazing-architects-of-the-animal-kingdom\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:this single day of gopher intervention;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">this single day of gopher intervention<\/a> could still be seen decades later. But that\u2019s precisely what an article published in the journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/microbiomes\/articles\/10.3389\/frmbi.2024.1399416\/full\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Frontiers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\"><em>Frontiers<\/em><\/a> earlier this month indicates. 40 years on, the article noted, the microbial community fostered within those plots, specifically mycorrhizal fungi, are still allowing plant life to thrive in the area.<\/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 the paper\u2019s co-author Emma Aronson said of the fungi\u2019s importance, \u201cThe trees came back almost immediately in some places. It didn\u2019t all die like everyone thought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, one takeaway from this paper is, as University of Connecticut mycologist Mia Maltz summarizes, that \u201cwe cannot ignore the interdependence of all things in nature, especially the things we cannot see like microbes and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularmechanics.com\/science\/environment\/a62684718\/fungi-mycelium-brains\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:fungi;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">fungi<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But another takeaway is that, when in doubt, and the situation seems grim, just toss a couple of gophers at the problem and see if that does anything. It might just work!<\/p>\n<p><strong>You Might Also Like<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<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<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.aol.com\/40-years-ago-scientists-dropped-140000330.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gophers Saved a Lava-Destroyed EcosystemTroy Harrison &#8211; Getty Images A new study reveals that an unconventional ecological intervention tactic is still providing benefits 40 years later After the 1980 eruption &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126948\" 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-126948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126948","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=126948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}