When the Cycle Stops, the Forest Dies: The Structure of Nutrient Loss

Introduction | The Forest is Raising Fish

“Because there is a forest, there are fish in the sea”—

“I don't really understand what you're saying”

You might have thought that.

The forest and the sea.

These two spaces, which appear to be completely different worlds, are connected by“an invisible flow of nutrients.”It is a grand “story of circulation” that begins with the fallen leaf of a single tree, passes through pill bugs and earthworms, seeps into the ground with the rain, and eventually reaches the sea through rivers.

And now, that cycle is coming to a halt.

Chapter 1 | Fallen Leaves, Droppings, and Leaf Mold: The Forest's Nutrient Production Line

In the forest, trees drop their leaves.

Those fallen leaves are decomposed by insects—pill bugs, millipedes, and beetle larvae—and turn into droppings.

The droppings are further decomposed by microorganisms, creating fluffy leaf mold.

Leaf mold is the dining table for the life that lives in the soil.

There, you will find beetle larvae and earthworms.

And there are birds and small animals that eat them, and further predators that eat them.

Leaf mold is the infrastructure of life.

Rain that falls on this soil seeps into the ground containing nutrients, and eventually flows to springs, then rivers, and then the sea.

That is why the health of the forest supports the life of the river, and the life of the river leads to the richness of the sea.

Chapter 2 | Human Destruction: Why Does the Forest Die?

However, in recent years, this cycle has been severed in many places.

The cause is not just one thing—but what they have in common is “manipulation by human hands.”

• Parks and artificial forests where fallen leaves are swept clean and leaf mold is not created

• Monoculture plantations of cedar and cypress, which result in low leaf litter and reduced diversity

• Destruction of the environment for earthworms and microorganisms due to soil compaction and excavation by heavy machinery

• In cities covered in asphalt, rainwater does not penetrate the soil

As a result, nutrients have become something that “just flows out.”

They are not stored, not decomposed, and just flow into rivers and then the sea as “murky water.”

When the cycle collapses, the density of life drops sharply.

Even if the forest is “green,” it is no longer a “power plant of life.”

Chapter 3 | The Ethics of the Forest: Not “Restoring,” but “Designing”

So, should we just “restore” the cycle of the past?
The answer is no.

This is because the modern forest is no longer “nature,” but a “managed space.”

Restoring the original diverse coppice forest is possible locally, but nearly impossible on a broad scale.

What we can do is “redesign the cycle as an ethic.”

• Regeneration of coppice forests

• Conservation of leaf mold

• Park design that does not sweep up too many fallen leaves

• Reviewing management guidelines for undergrowth and leaf litter layers in forestry

• Introduction of permeable paving and “soil restoration of rainwater” in cities

These are all ethical designs regarding “how to connect life.”

Conclusion | Life Does Not “Flow,” It Lives by “Circulating”

Life is not linear.

Water does not just fall in one direction like a waterfall.

Living things live by “circulating.”

They fall to the soil, return to the soil, and rise again as life.

That is why, if the cycle stops, the forest dies.

And that is also a “prophecy of the future” where the sea becomes barren, fish decrease, and people go hungry.

A society that looks at fallen leaves and thinks they are “dirty”
may already be beginning its own death.