Last weekend while on a trip to the mountains, I saw something interesting. A large tree had fallen from the bank of a creek behind our campsite. The tree itself has been long dead and its trunk is a mere shell.

However, on the tangle of roots at its base, sitting like an island in the creek, an entire ecosystem was growing.

Grass and small shrubs sprouted from the bundle, likely from dirt that the roots lifted as the tree fell.

As the creek itself is a protected water system for salmon spawning, I couldn’t wade over to look closer. However, I imagine there would be a world of smaller plants, fungi and insects living there as well.

This is probably a common phenomenon, nothing unique to nature.

Still, it’s the first time such a thing has caught my attention — this tiny little island of life sprouting from the corpse of another.