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The natural defenses of dead plants -- which are designed to inhibit enzymes in the gut to prevent digestion -- would be toxic for any other animal. But a group of researchers from Imperial College London have discovered new molecules in the worm gut, named drilodefensins, that can counteract the toxins, breaking them down the way that dish liquid breaks apart grease.
"Without drilodefensins, fallen leaves would remain on the surface of the ground for a very long time, building up to a thick layer," said Jake Bundy, an author of the study and a professor at Imperial College, in a statement. "Our countryside would be unrecognizable, and the whole system of carbon cycling would be disrupted."
The humble worm is amazing. It can turn lawn waste and food scraps into rich black soil in a matter of weeks.
(Score: 4, Informative) by moondrake on Friday August 07 2015, @09:17AM
its just some silliness from the summary (or perhaps its in the WP already). I am not aware of any proposed function of polyphenols (which is the toxin the original paper [nature.com] talks about) in dead leaves. They are however well-known protectors against herbivory in living plants.
I do not think the polyphenols are itself are a problem for germination or plant growth, so a role in preventing other plants from growing on leaf litter (as proposed by a sibling here) seems unlikely (polyphenols bind and precipitate soluble proteins, for that they need to be in direct contact with such proteins, so inside cells, or inside a digestive tract. Plant cells will not absorb them though, and plants do not have a digestive tract).
Under most conditions, plants are not carbon limited, and thus polyphenol components are not worth recycling from the leaves (it would probably very hard to do so practically anyway). Biologist tend to try and make everything "functional", but lets not forget that in many cases, things just evolved because they did not affect the survival of the species negatively (or negatively enough). This is not to say that it is impossible that polyphenols in litter have a function, just that I think there is currently no evidence for it.
This all seems a little bit like an alien hypothesizing we put old cleaning utensils in the garbage to make sure the garbage truck stays clean.
Disclaimer: I am a botanist (though not a phytopathologist)