10 apparently long-dead ferns with miniscule fronds sprouting

Following the suggestion of Betsy Dowling of Zanzibar Landscape Design (Betsy contributed the earthworm hypothesis a few months ago) I today found and photographed ten barely resurgent ferns, at Ground Zero and to the south.   I will add these to my weekly rephotography round.  Perhaps some will survive the summer drought.

In this region there are perhaps 500 or 1000 dead crowns, like the one pictured below - a state they reach  roughly  two years after die-off.   The appearance of these few sprouting fronds might be explained by, or at least is consistent with, this model:

1.  The die-off is an epidemic event: a widespread occurrence at a particular time
2.  Some individuals (~2%?) though severely affected, previously judged dead, remain vital, making new small fronds, late in the season, several years after the initial infection.  That this spring has been long-lived, cool and with some rain, may contribute to this phenomenon.  I have noticed only a very few of these tiny sprouts in past years.
3. The hypothetical infection may be cyclical.  Weak support for that possibility is provided by old stubbled fern crowns to the south of Ground Zero which we estimate (without metrics or dependable assays) to  be from about 20 years ago.