Friday, July 31, 2026
Science

Life after death: From burned trees to bleached corals, how dead organisms live on as the building blocks of new life

People's knee-jerk reaction to seeing death in nature is often not positive. The burn scar left by wildfire on a once-forested hillside, or a ghostly white coral reef, may evoke tragedy and despair. But in nature, most plants and animals are recycled into new life.

Life after death: From burned trees to bleached corals, how dead organisms live on as the building blocks of new life
Image: Phys.org
People's knee-jerk reaction to seeing death in nature is often not positive. The burn scar left by wildfire on a once-forested hillside, or a ghostly white coral reef, may evoke tragedy and despair. But in nature, most plants and animals are recycled into new life.

Originally published at Phys.org

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