Art Intelligence accelerators (Aia) = Additional/embellishing, creative elements added to Art Intelligences to enhance and accelerate local ecological processes – therefore intended primarily for non-humans. For example, these may add additional benefit or encouragement to certain organisms to be and become, that in turn will further aid forest recovery.

The benefits to the forest of introducing coarse woody debris
Coarse woody debris (like the two-tonne log introduced to the site) is critical to functioning of an ecosystem. In a paddock or on a woodland floor, such grounded timber stabilises soil, reduces erosion, and creates a protected microclimate where small animals can thrive, nutrients collect, and seedlings can gain a foothold protected from grazing and the elements. Hundreds of species of wildlife rely on fallen timber for shelter and food resources, (while standing dead trees often provide hollows that are important nesting sites for wildlife). It can take decades, to centuries to accumulate – especially larger pieces. It has been lost from many ecosystems (such as the artwork site at SERF) globally due to veg clearing, logging, forest regimen and grazing. At the artwork site SERF (Qld) the paddock had been bare for decades, and only an introduction as we have just done would bring back such debris.

Ecology is a charmed science. It provides us with the capability, the acuity, to see beyond the simple veneer of a place or environment and instead perceive another dimension: the convoluted interplay of its components, the depth of its connections, its patterns and processes. To do ecology is exhilarating; it is transformative; it is about becoming something else, about shedding the skin and perspectives that clutter and distort our human-centric myopia; to do ecology is about pricking the delusion of being apart from and above nature. It is the wonder of seeing the world from the perspective of different species. It is about understanding the endless and enduring shifts of time and place, the infinitely variable patterning inherent in the natural world, in the world into which we must fit. Woinarski, J Z (2023) To the future: An ecology of love, hope, and action. Austral Ecology 48: 1705–1712.

Retaining fallen timber in different environments throughout the landscape supports more complex and resilient ecosystems. Removing fallen timber interrupts all of these processes, leading to reduced biodiversity and less resilient ecosystems. It can also have a devastating effect on wildlife. The benefits of coarse woody debris include:

• developing soil by cycling nutrients back into the soil as the timber degrades
• Reducing erosion and stabilising slopes and gullies
• Supporting more productive microclimates and helping retain localised soil moisture through water infiltration and improved thermal conditions.
• Creating a site for re-colonisation by ground cover plants, particularly wind and water dispersed plants, following fire or other disturbance
• Providing shelter, habitat, food resources and foraging grounds for native species, from tiny microbial communities through to birds and mammals. (Fallen timber and dead trees can act as stepping
stones for fauna and provide a substrate and nutrients for invertebrates and fungi).
https://www.sustainablefarms.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Fallen-timber-and-dead-trees-ONLINE_0.pdf

But to do ecology – and especially conservation biology – in this age is also devastating. Our science, our understanding, uniquely sharpen our perspectives, give us a cursed privilege of seeing the cracks, about watching them widen, about feeling grief at the casualties, about knowing that the future will likely be characterized by increasing loss.
Woinarski, J Z (2023) To the future: An ecology of love, hope, and action. Austral Ecology 48: 1705–1712.

Our partners TERN use protocols for measuring coarse woody debris like the log introduced to the site – ie the future site for microbes of all kinds which project collaborator Dr. Eleanor Velasquez  drew my attention towards (and before that Dr. Lebbinck too in this post here).

Typical approaches to restoration involve plant only and plant and animal only approaches – which operate under what the authors call the ‘field of dreams paradigm’ –  i.e. that if you build the habitat they will come! Such attempts often therefore ignore the ‘unseen majority’.
Contos P, Wood JL, Murphy NP, Gibb H. Rewilding with invertebrates and microbes to restore ecosystems: Present trends and future directions. Ecol Evol. 2021;11:7187–7200. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7597.

Here is the way TERN classify the stage of rot of materials.

Coarse woody debris decomposition/
Art Intelligence accelerators (Aia)
The next step is to determine potential Art Intelligence Accelerator processes that will expedite the decay of the log from what TERN would call Class 1 (Recently fallen/structurally intact) to a higher class (e.g. cannot support its own weight/soft to kick).

Fallen tree branches such as ours don’t rot quickly as they’re almost all carbon.  To compost properly, the requisite microbes/fungi need nitrogen, and other trace nutrients. (The ideal ratio of carbon to nitrogen in compost is around 30 to 1.  That’s 30 parts carbon for every 1-part nitrogen.  Wood is naturally around 500 to 1, since it’s almost entirely carbon). Microbes therefore need a lot more nitrogen to break down a stump and so acceleration of the decomposition processes will assist building the soil and health of the re-forestation site.

One approach involves increasing the surface area so it’s more exposed to the elements (e.g. by drilling or slotting the log), while at the same time feeding the bacteria and fungi that will decompose it. Mulching the log also helps hold in moisture and encourages the stump to break down faster.

Key techniques include:

• Drilling holes (or chainsaw slots etc) into the wood helps it retain water – via little pockets that trap rain, moisture, and nutrients – and attract insects who will then chew additional holes, breaking it into smaller pieces that decay faster.  The water caught in those pockets also promotes fungus growth – and given that water helps the  wood rot more effectively, making sure the stump stays consistently moist is important.
• Sprinkling fungus spores or pieces of grown fungus onto the wood collected from fallen logs near the area, ideally from rotting wood of the same type, is also a viable approach. (Many fungi species are generalists  and so any spores applied will likely help).

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• Another key approach is covering the wood with sod or peat moss or nearby soil from the existing forest (thereby inoculating the site with microbes) -to keep it moist and its temperature stable. A moisture content of 20 percent is optimal and temperatures of 10 to 32 degrees C promote fungus growth. NB sunlight is not required because fungi do not photosynthesise. In our case this will mean fungal growth is more likely in the cooler months given the forest has yet to really take off.

  

• Adding nutrients is also valuable – i.e. applying a one off small amount of high-nitrogen fertilizer to the ground near the edge of the stump or log to kick-start the fungus growth – e.g. Miracle Grow (or other high nitrogen fertilizer) works well, but is not as concentrated as potassium nitrate. Pure potassium nitrite pellets are pelletized nitrogen fertilizers. Lab-grade potassium nitrate is more natural than a such prepared blends that includes other potential toxins. “Yeast nutrient,” is a food-grade nitrogen that’s used in winemaking (not the same as nutritional yeast, and it can only be purchased online or at specialty winemaking or homebrewing stores) or use other things you have on hand, like natural cultured buttermilk (contains probiotics that will help digest the stump but  much slower than other nitrogen sources), or urine –  by peeing on it regularly. NB the least effective method, is urine doesn’t have nearly as much nitrogen as actual fertilizer. 
• Epsom salt will also encourage rot to some extent – as it is a magnesium salt, and many microbes do require magnesium, at least in low levels.  However it’s not the main limiting nutrient though, and it won’t be nearly as effective as adding Nitrogen.
•  Pouring granulated sugar into the holes and nooks of the wood after one year has passed since the fertilizer application. The sugar provides an additional carbon source for the fungi. Repeat this step every few months until the wood has completely decayed.

References:
https://www.hunker.com/13407080/how-to-speed-up-wood-decay/

https://practicalselfreliance.com/natural-tree-stump-removal/Back to soil (Image https://www.hunker.com/13407080/how-to-speed-up-wood-decay/)