Detrital Loop
Ecosystem health depends more on efficient decomposition than on photosynthesis.
In many ecosystems, decomposition controls productivity more than primary production (photosynthesis) does. This is the detrital loop or brown food web - energy flow through dead organic matter rather than living plant tissue. In temperate forests, 90% of annual leaf production falls to the ground uneaten. That leaf litter enters the detrital loop: fungi and bacteria decompose it, earthworms and arthropods consume them, predators consume detritivores. The detrital loop supports as much or more biomass than the herbivore food web.
Business Application of Detrital Loop
Ecosystem health depends more on efficient decomposition than on photosynthesis. Similarly, organizational health often depends more on how well you extract value from failures than on how many new initiatives you launch.