I have been reading The
Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston about a group
of scientists and who have been mapping and cataloging the plants and animals
living in the tops of northern California’s coastal redwoods. I was shocked to read they found collembolans in the soil of the fern “forest”
growing at the top of a trees over 300 feet tall. Collembolans at the top of a 300 foot tall
tree it blows my mind! Sadly for me they
offer no explanation as to how they got there.
A collembolan or more commonly known as a springtail is a
small, really small arthropod which lives in the soil and helps to decompose
poop, leaves, fungus, and decaying plant matter. Bug Guide has some really cool pictures of
different collembolans. There are tons of these everywhere in the forest, your
backyard, on a soccer or football field, and they can even be seen moving
across the water and snow. One scientist estimated there were 300 million per acre
in some grassland habitats. No, way you say there can’t be that many! Take
it from me there can be. I spent three years assisting with an invertebrate
research study project where my heart sank every time I opened a sample bottle
and poured it out to see thousands of dead collembolans floating on the top. By
the time the project ended we counted 652,013 from thirteen 100 meter square research
plots. (My record for one sample bottle
is 30,000 from one cottage cheese sized container placed in the grass.)
But, what makes them really cool is how they move when
scared, they use a furcula. Furcula look like either a long or short forked arm that hangs down from the “belly” of
the collembola. When the collembola hits
this furcula onto the ground the collembola is sent somersaulting into the air
about seven inches off the ground for a distance of about 50-100 times their
body length. So, the largest collembolan
at 0.39 inches (10mm) would land almost four inches away from where it leapt
from the ground. Downside to furcula propulsion is no steering! Collembolans have no way to direct where they
will land, so if you are living in the top of a redwood tree and are suddenly
scared by an invading scientist you might just fling yourself right out of your
tree to plunge 300 feet or more to your death!
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