As recovery continues from the many wildfires throughout California and other western states, officials are looking for better ways to protect the soil and revegetate the burned areas. Often, applying seed is considered the best approach, although some specialists advise against it when possible—perhaps applying hydromulch or tackifier in some combination without the seed, and instead allowing the local plants to make a comeback.  

Scientists around the world have considered this same question, and in Brazil a study has examined the various mechanisms by which revegetation occurs. In particular, it was concerned with the role of animals—birds, bats, and especially tapirs—and how they disperse seeds in the fire-damaged regions. Not to put too fine a point on it, the study looked at where the animals defecate and at the types and quantity of seeds they leave behind.  

Researchers from the Amazon Institute of Environmental Research have been studying the effect of fire on the rainforests, and for about 15 years they’ve been working with three large plots of forest land—one was left untouched, one was burned annually, and one was burned every three years. The scientists used cameras to monitor various animals’ whereabouts in the three areas, and they also painstakingly searched the land for tapir dung piles, then counted and examined the seeds therein. By far, most of the piles—containing seeds from 24 different plant species—were found in the plot of land that was burned each year. The animals appear to prefer spending time in this most heavily damaged area, and this was confirmed by the number of times the tapirs were caught on camera.  

The study concluded that tapirs deposit, on average, 9,822 seeds per hectare in the badly burned rainforest—as opposed to 2,950 per hectare in the pristine forest—and that most of the seeds are in good condition and can germinate. It didn’t speculate as to why the tapirs preferred the disturbed land, but since the animals appear to have a significant effect on forest revegetation, it’s been suggested that it might be worth luring them into other areas in need of reseeding.  

I’m not suggesting we import tapirs—which are distantly related to rhinos and horses and usually about the size of a donkey—to the damaged parts of California; we’ve already had enough problems with introduced species like nutria. But it’s worth keeping track of the role animals play in the months and years following a fire.