Ruminant Bioreactors
Soil microorganisms would die off due to changing seasonal conditions. Summer to winter in temperate zones and humid to arid conditions in the tropics are such changes. If the microorganisms die, the soil dies. It's that simple.
Herbivores co-evolved with vegetation and microorganisms. It's a tripartite relationship: microorganisms can't survive seasonal changes without a ruminant's safe harbor of warmth and humidity, a ruminant can't survive without the nutritional and energy extraction of the vegetation it ingests without the microorganisms it harbors, the vegetation can't survive without the disturbance of the ruminant's mowing, hoof disturbance, and the deposition of the very organisms responsible for the life in the soil upon which the vegetation and the ruminant depends. Remove one and they all fall down.
The ruminant seals its ecological role by devouring grasses, legumes, and their seeds—feeding both its microbial allies and tomorrow’s plants. Its gut becomes a seed workshop: stratifying embryos for sprouting, then planting them complete with fertilizer packs, microbial colonists, and moisture reserves to reignite the growth cycle where hooves last trod.
So, the herbivore becomes a vessel, a bioreactor to incubate, multiply, transport, and deposit the microorganisms that take up residency in the soils and bring it to life, which brings the prepared seed into the best possible position to keep cycling forward.
