Waldsterben

Waldsterben was the name German foresters coined for what happened when their scientifically managed monoculture spruce plantations began to fail a generation or two after planting. The first generation of trees, grown in soil still enriched by the decomposed complexity of the old-growth forest, produced spectacular yields that seemed to validate the scientific approach. The second generation inherited soil that had been stripped of the organic matter, mycorrhizal networks, nutrient cycling, and biodiversity that the original forest had generated. The soil could no longer support the trees. Disease spread through the genetically uniform plantations with lethal efficiency. Pests that had been controlled by the diverse ecosystems of the old-growth forest now encountered monocultures that offered no resistance. The forests died not through a single catastrophic event but through cumulative failure — each tree weaker than the last, each generation less able to grow than the one before.