I got as far as reading that the accelerated decomp is bad for forests that had slow-decomp as a feature of their survival. I stopped reading there because I was getting depressed that this thing I thought was good is causing harm.
The US forests got used to not having them, so now some trees like maples need a thick layer of leaves on the ground to trap moisture around their roots so they don’t dry out. There are also native plants that need this layer to help protect them from temperature swings.
Removed by mod
I got as far as reading that the accelerated decomp is bad for forests that had slow-decomp as a feature of their survival. I stopped reading there because I was getting depressed that this thing I thought was good is causing harm.
The US forests got used to not having them, so now some trees like maples need a thick layer of leaves on the ground to trap moisture around their roots so they don’t dry out. There are also native plants that need this layer to help protect them from temperature swings.
A couple of sources: https://nysufc.org/earthworms-implicated-sugar-maple-decline/2017/11/28/ https://wormwatch.d.umn.edu/forest-ecology-and-worms/forest-ecology/about-forest