Wow - we were impressed that recent biological research in the B.C. coast rainforest made it into the spectacle of the 2010 Olympics Opening Ceremony.

What are we talking about?

During the show, after the giant forest grew out of the floor and killer whales swam past, the whole "sea" became filled with salmon. Then the salmon went up the tree trunks.

This isn't just a pretty spectacle. Ground-breaking science by Victoria biologist Dr. Tom Reimchen has shown that salmon do go up the trees ... but perhaps not in the way you might think.

Giant fir, spruce and cedar trees that the coastal rainforest is famous for are ... fed by salmon!

In a beautiful circle of life here is how it works, explained at a very elementary level:

Trees provide shelter and structure for the streams that run through the forest to the sea. In these streams, salmon eggs are laid in autumn, and the young salmon hatch in spring. They swim down through the fresh water streams and rivers and out to sea. Years later, they return by the millions, fighting their way back to the streams where they spawn, laying their eggs in almost exactly the same place they themselves were hatched. Then they die.

The rainforest in fall is strewn with dead salmon. Bears, wolves, eagles, ravens, and many other creatures eat the salmon, dragging the bodies back into the forest where they continue to decompose.

The nitrogen from the salmon bodies is eventually absorbed by the giant trees themselves. The salmon, literally, feed the rainforest.

Through their death, they perpetuate the life of the coast.

And that's what we believe is behind the salmon climbing trees in the Olympic ceremony.

Dr. Tom Reimchen measured this phenomenon by tracing a varient of nitrogen that is present in marine, but not terrestrial, animals. And he found it in the trees beside streams where salmon spawned, but not in trees beside streams without salmon.

And ... when the salmon were abundant, the trees beside salmon streams grew more than in years when the salmon were not.

To see more about Tom's research, visit his Lab Website.

Interestingly, Tom is also supervising research on why the Spirit Bear (also featured in the opening ceremony) has such a high concentration of white bears in certain islands in the Great Bear Rainforest. Kevin, with our guests, has come across Tom and his students in white and black "bear suits" in the Great Bear, testing their theories!

Learn more about viewing spirit bears on our Great Bear Rainforest trip.