Here’s how a bag of Cheetos disrupted an ecosystem at Carlsbad Caverns
Sep 10, 2024, 3:00 PM
Image of a bag of Cheetos left off-trail at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. (Carlsbad Caverns National Park on Facebook)
(Carlsbad Caverns National Park on Facebook)
CARLSBAD, New Mexico — The impact of human actions on the natural world is on full display in a portion of Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
It started with a discarded bag of Cheetos on one of the Carlsbad trails.
According to National Park Rangers, someone visiting the popular Big Room route of the Carlsbad Caverns dropped the bag of Cheetos.
Then, nature went to work.
The cave’s humidity softened the snack’s processed corn. This created what the Rangers said was “the perfect environment to host microbial life and fungi.”
Then, the Rangers said cave crickets, spiders, and flies organized into a “temporary food web” based on this new fungal home. According to National Geographic, a food web is made up of all the food chains within a single ecosystem.
A a result of the creation of the temporary food web, the predatory new microbial life and fungi began to spread to the surrounding caves and formations within Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
It didn’t take long for Carlsbad Caverns officials to remove the mold, according to CNN.
But the park is taking the opportunity to remind visitors of a few things. Namely, that water is the only thing that can be safely consumed within the caves. And, that the Leave No Trace principle can prevent issues like predatory mold in America’s national parks.
