Ebony Trampling
Ashley Richards, better known as Ebony Crush Goddess, is the star of videos showing her torturing animals by tearing their throats and urinating on them. She and another man named Brent Justice face federal charges for creating these graphic videos.
In one video, Bs and Essie stars viciously assault Emma without mercy.
Humans
Ebony is not only a gorgeous wood, but it has many more reasons to admire it. In Mauritius, this species is commonly referred to as the pot sam zacot or monkey’s chamber pot due to its fruit which looks like an earring when ripe and resembles human brain tissue when mature. Furthermore, ebony provides food for fruit bats and endemic Phelsuma geckos.
The ebony tree is a beloved tourist destination in Mauritius, often seen growing along beaches and in Le Morne Brabant forests. Its dark, glossy bark stands out against its leaves which are slender, triangular, and leathery. Most importantly, this tree boasts an intoxicating fragrance from flowers pollinated by endemic Phelsuma geckos.
Trampling can cause significant damage to plants, particularly bryophytes and other vascular species that are adapted to living in shadows under large shrubs and trees. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to accurately determine the effects of trampling on different kinds of plants due to various variables like light conditions, plant interactions and leaf abrasion. Some bryophytes seem more resistant than others with high lichen cover such as liverworts; however this resistance may not last forever.
Animals
Ebony Crush Goddess is a slim woman in a Mardi Gras mask and black lingerie who seems to enjoy the act of crushing and killing animals. The clips she posts are generally considered “hard crush,” which violates state animal cruelty laws.
She also shows people squishing inanimate objects and pets, like balloons or toys. She calls this a form of “soft crush.”
The results of the study indicate that low-frequency human trampling in alpine heaths can have major negative impacts on lichen abundance and species richness. Lichens and bryophytes were more impacted in plots near the trail than those far from it, but this is not unexpected given that some lichens are very sensitive to trampling (Grabherr 1982; Pertierra et al. 2013).
The study also found contrasting trends in the abundance of three groups of bryophytes with differing proximity to the trail. Acrocarpous bryophytes tended to decrease with proximity to the trail, while pleurocarpous bryophytes and liverworts tended to increase. These contrasting trends may reflect differences in dominance prior to and after trampling, as well as effects on regeneration. The results support previous findings in alpine grasslands and maritime Antarctica that lichens are highly trampling-sensitive, although to our knowledge this is the first study to show this effect.
Cockchafers
Cockchafer beetles (Melolontha melolontha) are a common pest in the UK and they can cause extensive damage to plants when overcrowded. While they live in various habitats such as fields, meadows and grasslands, they become especially invasive in woodland areas.
Adults measure 30mm long with distinctive fanned antennae and dark-brown bodies and wingcases. Males have seven ‘feathers’ to their antennae, while the female has six.
The female plants eggs in the soil, which hatch into larvae (grubs). These creatures spend three to four years underground before emerging as pupae in early autumn.
Cockchafer females are active during spring and summer, laying their eggs singly about 10-20 cm below ground level. Once developed into larvae, these pests feed on plant roots and cause extensive damage to a variety of crops.
They are a major agricultural pest, wreaking havoc on plant populations and livestock feed sources. To control them, either resowing pasture or applying insecticide sprays before larvae have emerged and developed can help.
To reduce cockchafer damage on your farm, maintain pasture cover at 400-600 kgDM/ha or 5 cm in height. Alternatively, consider sowing tolerant pasture species like phalaris or cocksfoot for added protection.
Re-sowing pasture with equipment that churns the top soil, such as a roterra, can significantly reduce the risk of further cockchafer damage. This may be especially advantageous in paddocks prone to cattle trampling.
Blackheaded pasture cockchafer can be controlled with several foliar insecticides in early June before the young larvae emerge, thus preventing them from feeding above ground.
Unfortunately, some of these foliars may not be effective against adult beetles; thus, you should combine them with other control methods to maximize your strategy’s success.
There are also biological controls that can be effective against cockchafers, such as predators and parasitic nematodes. These should be utilized together with other pesticides for maximum effectiveness.
Maintaining a close eye on your soil is essential for identifying cockchafers and other pest animals. If you spot any unusual pests or damage, report it immediately so that eradication and control can take place quickly.
Plants
Trampling can have devastating effects on plant communities and species diversity. Research on trampled areas has typically focused on soil properties and vegetation types; however, more detailed study is needed with species-level data.
In an experiment, we assessed the short and long-term impacts of human trampling on alpine heath ecosystems in northern Sweden (Table 2). To measure vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens along a transect perpendicular to a permanent trail used at low frequency by hikers, we measured species abundance, richness and cover at community level.
We observed that acrocarpous bryophytes, deciduous shrubs and lichens were negatively affected by trampling intensity. Their relative abundance decreased in direct proportion to the level of trampling. On the other hand, mosses responded very sensitively; Polytrichum alpinum being the most abundant moss while Junco trifidi-Callunetum vulgaris community showed less resistance (Table 2).
Studies are increasingly suggesting that plants are resilient to human trampling disturbance. Physiological mechanisms like rhizome penetration are essential for survival in such conditions; however, their resilience depends on factors like soil pH and nutrient availability, exposure to heat and sunlight, as well as how much bare rock or trampled ground remains exposed.
Trampling damage to vegetation is particularly severe on barrier islands with sandy soils that are particularly vulnerable (Dale and Weaver 1974; Davidson and Fox 1974; Pellerin et al. 2006).
On Scilly Island in the British Isles, several arid and semi-arid areas have been restored over 25 years after clearing away legacy deer trails (Kilheffer et al. 2019). However, these restorations are heavily dependent on prevailing climate and biotic conditions at each site which are in turn affected by previous climates and land use changes.
Although aridity may be one of the primary motivators for plant regeneration on Scilly, other biotic and abiotic factors also play a role. Notable among them are structural connectivity between suitable grasslands and the presence of bare soils or trampled ground in newly restored areas.