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 58 the perpetrator DHJanzen100873.jpg high resolution
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| This magpie jay - when you see it fly overhead in the ACG - should not be thought of as a pretty ball of blue and white feathers (making an awful noise) but rather should be thought of as a flying tablespoon of tree seeds that periodically dumps some on the countryside, an avian Johnny Appleseed. This story is, incidentally, old hat to US farmers, perforce students of nature who often notice that small clumps of woody bird-dispersed plants (e.g., juniper, blackberries) spring up around the posts in a fence in a pasture. But this phenomenon means that single trees, even if they themselves are not reproductive, are very valuable facilitators of forest invasion to large abandoned pastures and fields. It is tempting to think in terms of growing trees, or putting up structures of this nature deliberately if such are missing from areas where forest restoration is desired. Whether this is cost-effective in any given place can only be determined by trial and error. | ||
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