When a tree falls in the forest

 To a fellow from Texas, the Georgia Piedmont seems impossibly wet and lush. The tree pollen is so thick it will almost choke you. New leaves are hiding the forest, cutting down the sight lines of predators and amateur naturalists. New seedlings are coming up everywhere.

And amidst all the new growth, you see dead trees. One old giant, down in the forest south of Stone Mountain, is chest high. 

I’ve wondered idly (without doing research) about the decay — how the nutrients of the dead trees are returned to the soil to nourish the new growth.

A couple of days ago, I saw a fallen log that seemed to be alive. It was covered by a swarm of eastern subterranean termites, Reticulitermes flavipes. They have wings at this stage and are hungry. There were so many termites you could barely see the log.

I still need to do some reading about the nutrient cycle, but I at least have a clue.