14/03/2026
Stammar liggandes i trädgården? Utmärkt för djuren 🙏
You see a rotting log that needs to go to the dump. But an entire city sees the only apartment building on the block! 🌳🏠
That fallen log in your backyard — the soft one with the peeling bark, the one your kids poke with sticks — is actually the most densely populated structure on your property. More species live in that log than in every birdhouse, bat box, and bee hotel you could buy combined!
Here’s who’s living there right now:
The Bark Layer:
Carpenter ants have been hard at work for two years, carving clean-walled tunnels between the bark and wood. These galleries are home to overwintering beetles, centipedes, and sow bugs, while a Red-backed Salamander may be tucked away in a moist pocket under the bark.
The Sapwood:
Beetle larvae have been munching through the soft wood, creating tunnels filled with frass. Solitary wasps lay their eggs inside these tunnels. The cycle of predator and prey is quietly happening inside this log!
🍄 The Heartwood:
Fungi have been breaking down the center of the log for years, transforming it into a nursery. Millipedes lay their eggs in fungal pockets, while daddy longlegs find shelter in the center.
The Soil Contact Zone:
Where the log meets the ground, moisture creates a unique microhabitat. Slug eggs, earthworm cocoons, and fungal networks thrive here as the log slowly becomes soil, feeding nearby trees.
A single rotting log can support an estimated 300 to 500 invertebrate species and dozens of vertebrates throughout its life! Yet, a fresh-cut lawn next to it supports almost none.
You were going to throw it away because it looked messy? It’s actually the most alive thing in your yard!
