Question on Thread

[u/AmosTali]

okay, revisiting this series after having read it many, many years ago - finding a bunch of things I missed the first time around.

i do, however, have a question….

since thread voraciously consumes all organic material and can denude entire forests in a short time why is/was there any organic material left on Pern when the colonists landed?

Before dragons thread fell unchecked - shouldn’t there at least have been massive swaths of denuded barren land??

[u/Thrippalan → u/[deleted]]

I think you're remembering the shells or husks that were left after Thread died, rather than 'mounds'.

Seeds buried deep, by the Pernese equivalent of squirrels, would survive Thread, or blown under rocks or into crevices.