Seedy Socks
Hey: our national parks are turning into pretty seedy neighborhoods!This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. This discovery comes thanks to ecologists at Australia's Griffith University in Brisbane. They were studying how invasive plants spread to new locales, sometimes overrunning native plants. They wondered: Could seeds sticking to hiker's SOCKS play a role? To find out, the ecologists field-tested socks and other clothing. Hiking in pairs, the scientists took several treks of a few miles each, along roadsides in Australia's Kosciuszko National Park. One researcher wore mis-matched socks and pants on each leg. The second scientist stopped her every 100 yards to count the stuck-on seeds. In all, they tested 200 different sock and clothing samples. Result? The samples picked up almost twenty-five thousand seeds from fifty species! Almost half were not native, AND--after three miles--a quarter of the seeds acquired at the start of each hike STILL hung on. The researchers suggest that, in this case, its well-meaning hikers who make nature seedy. That, and when sweaty climbers go for three days without CHANGING their socks. Puh-leaze!
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