>In some cases, this damage can be effectively permanent if let go long enough.
I have no expertise in leaf or ground quality. If this is the correct, even in very rare cases, over the quarter-billion years or so that trees have been shedding leaves, should the entire planet not be barren wasteland by now?
What's the process by which leaf damage is undone over very long time periods?
It's just an ecosystem thing - if the ground cover can't handle the leaves it probably should be a different ground cover there. This does remind me of something cool though. I was up in the UP Michigan canoeing and ended up in a forest of maple trees. Their leaves had so completely dominated the ground that it was just a blanket of leaves and sap for miles. Only a few patches of fern could make it there but otherwise there were no (visible) ground plants
I have no expertise in leaf or ground quality. If this is the correct, even in very rare cases, over the quarter-billion years or so that trees have been shedding leaves, should the entire planet not be barren wasteland by now?
What's the process by which leaf damage is undone over very long time periods?