Some areas of the Mojave Desert disturbed by Gen. Patton’s training exercises in 1940 have recovered surprisingly slowly because microorganisms in the top soil layer have been slow to recolonize.

References:

Belnap, J. 1998. Meeting of the Ecological Society of America. August. Baltimore.

Gillis, A., and J. Miller. 1994. Crustful of nutrients. BioScience 44(December):735.

Monastersky, R. 1989. Supersoil. Science News 136(Dec. 9):376.

Abstracts of the Ecological Society of America Meeting are available at http://esa.sdsc.edu/98announce.htm.

Sources:

Jane Belnap
National Park Service
Canyonland National Park
2282 South West Resource Boulevard
Moab, UT 85432

Jeffrey R. Johansen
John Carroll University
Department of Biology
20700 North Park Boulevard
University Heights, OH 44118

Steven Warren
U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories
P.O. Box 9005
Champaign, IL 61826-9005