Ancient Human Trash Heaps Gave Rise to Everglades Tree Islands

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2011) — Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development.

Tree islands are patches of relatively high and dry ground that dot the marshes of the Everglades. Typically a meter (3.3 feet) or so high, many of them are elevated enough to allow trees to grow. They provide a nesting site for alligators and a refuge for birds, panthers, and other wildlife.

Scientists have thought for many years that the so-called fixed tree islands (a larger type of tree island frequently found in the Everglades' main channel, Shark River Slough) developed on protrusions from the rocky layer of a mineral called carbonate that sits beneath the marsh. Now, new research indicates that the real trigger for island development might have been middens, or trash piles left behind from human settlements that date to about 5,000 years ago.

These middens, a mixture of bones, food discards, charcoal, and human artifacts (such as clay pots and shell tools), would have provided an elevated area, drier than the surrounding marsh, allowing trees and other vegetation to grow. Bones also leaked phosphorus, a nutrient for plants that is otherwise scarce in the Everglades.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110321134627.htm

[spooked911]

1. interesting idea but it's hard to believe

that there was THAT much human waste from the relatively small settlements there

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. so that floating plastic island in the pacific will

end up becoming a refuge for creosote bushes and olive trees?

[xchrom]

3. recommend

[Hugabear]

4. See, polution is a good thing. We don't need the EPA.

I'm sure the anti-environmentalists would love to jump all over this

[M155Y_A1CH]

5. Compost pile n/t

:kick: