I found this video absolutely fascinating. How fertile soil decreases biodiversity.

Opinions?

For me, our land isn't fertile and it isn't supporting plant life either. Though I think that may be a lack of top soil and complete compaction of the soil that is our biggest problem. So, fascinating.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!  My food forest is going to take over an open area that is excessively well drained.  In the full sun locations it's dry all year long (despite the reasonable rains we get).  I'm constantly amazed at the number of wildflowers and plants that can survive out there.  This video explained it to me.  

I saw that a while back and found it interesting. I suscribed to their channel.  They are doing neat things.

If memory serves me right,  fertility creates a situation where a select few species take over and blanket the area.  Unfertile soil has a lot of open space for other species to grow.

I likened it to mowing, which would be similar but different. The low growing grasses overtake plants that need height.

wayne fajkus wrote:I saw that a while back and found it interesting. I suscribed to their channel.  They are doing neat things.

If memory serves me right,  fertility creates a situation where a select few species take over and blanket the area.  Unfertile soil has a lot of open space for other species to grow.

I likened it to mowing, which would be similar but different. The low growing grasses overtake plants that need height.

I've gobbled up nearly all of their videos and they fascinate me.

What I find interesting is that they don't really delve into the workings of the earth mother but rather talk about reduction of plant types over the real purpose of plant succession.

Succession has the goal of building a thriving microbiome (soil), after a disturbance it starts with nitrogen fixing and other nutrients brought up by the mineral mining plants of the primary succession plant world.
Once there are enough nutrients the second phase begins because now there are enough nutrients to support those secondary plants, all through the process of succession, the plants are building nutrients and microorganisms in the soil.
Once you get to the final succession trees (canopy forest) there is little sunlight making it to the soil, so naturally other plants can not grow and thrive but the soil has been built through the processes of succession so that those huge canopy trees can thrive.
Once the soil has been depleted from years and years of giant trees growing and blocking out the sunlight, they begin to die off or a huge wind event, earth quake, fire, etc. creates new disturbance and the process begins again.

Redhawk

I'd say because they acknowledge that the changes to the soil are man-made and not natural. They add things to their soil, disrupt it, etc.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:What I find interesting is that they don't really delve into the workings of the earth mother but rather talk about reduction of plant types over the real purpose of plant succession.

Succession has the goal of building a thriving microbiome (soil), after a disturbance it starts with nitrogen fixing and other nutrients brought up by the mineral mining plants of the primary succession plant world.
Once there are enough nutrients the second phase begins because now there are enough nutrients to support those secondary plants, all through the process of succession, the plants are building nutrients and microorganisms in the soil.
Once you get to the final succession trees (canopy forest) there is little sunlight making it to the soil, so naturally other plants can not grow and thrive but the soil has been built through the processes of succession so that those huge canopy trees can thrive.
Once the soil has been depleted from years and years of giant trees growing and blocking out the sunlight, they begin to die off or a huge wind event, earth quake, fire, etc. creates new disturbance and the process begins again.

Redhawk

I am not sure it was a fair comparison, comparing a place abused by grazing pressure, calling it "fertile", and then comparing places where plants were not abused by overgrazing, if you leave the grass to grow and dont cut it, the succession will start, and then all sorts of other plants will emerge. Sure there are much more species of really small plants than the number of trees, but which is more prodictive, and which will capture more sun energy? Which will create more life in general?
Also nitrates are one of the most used fertilizers, exactly because they lack in the soil handled by humans, most people dont like the dead vegetation, and exactly that when rotting creates the nitrates. Most places with that short grass lack nitrates, it is easy for that to be checked because when you add nitrates the grass start to grow much better.
Fertility is like a spinning wheel, lots of stuff rotting and lots of stuff growing, short grass scenario is not a great fertility place.