what happens to the billions of leaves that blow into bodies of water each year?

Question

I get the basic concept of composting, but what’s the “life cycle” of a leaf that blows into a lake or river?

In: 1

Answer 1

It degrades.

Various processes degrade the leaf. The currents of the water tears off some chunks, some chemical reactions occur in the water because it is a solvent (and some substances of the lead dissolve into it).

The rest of the leaf is consumed by other life. Some are consumed by larger animals and by macro organisms – small bugs and larvae. Others are consumed by microorganisms.

Regardless, anything of nutritional value in the leaf (aka almost all of it) is consumed and passed in through the normal cycle of eat, poop, get eaten, get pooped.