Overall benefits and services of trees – Trees, are the largest, by size, plant species on our planet. Without them life as we know it would not exist. Here are just a few of the life sustaining services they provide all life forms on our planet: 1.Trees maintain our atmosphere – They make oxygen and take in carbon dioxide. All green plants, including trees, are the only species on our planet with the pigment chlorophyll. Chlorophyll, which is in the cells of leaves, allows the plant to make its own food from the sun’s energy. Green plants are the only species on our planet that can make their own food. The process by which they do this is called photosynthesis. One of the major responsibilities of all plants is to pass on directly or indirectly the sun’s energy to all other living species on this planet. This process is called the Food Web or the Web of Life. During the growing season trees filter pollutants from the air by daily removing nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and heavy metals. Ex: One mature oak tree can make 260 pounds of oxygen a year and absorb 48 pounds of carbon dioxide. Fact: 50% of the biomass of a living tree is carbon. This carbon is only released back into the atmosphere when a tree burns or when it slowly decomposes.
5.Trees provide winter protection – Evergreen trees provide protection in the winter from wind and storms. Many species of birds and animals seek protection in and under evergreens. In warmer months birds and animals find shelter from predators in trees. Trees also provide a safe habitat so animals and birds can build their nests and rear their offspring safely. NOTE: With evergreens placed strategically around our homes, they help slow down and diminish the wicking of heat due to wind and cold and keep our homes warmer in the winter months. 6.Trees provide shade – Forests are 10 degrees cooler because solar rays are cut off and because of transpiration. The more trees in your yard and neighborhood, the cooler it will be due to sun blockage and evaporative cooling. In summer months, deciduous trees will provide shade, which will keep homes cooler, especially if they were planted on the south side of structures.
Plants and trees also communicate with insects sending airborne chemical messages that act as distress signals to attract predatory insects to come and kill the herbivore insects that are attacking them. The emerging picture is that plant-eating insects, (herbivores), and the predatory insects that feed on them, live in a world we can barely imagine. Perfumed by clouds of chemicals, rich in information and released in the air in in the ground, all insects, ants, microbes, moths, hummingbirds and even animals are capable of detecting and reacting to these blasts of chemicals. Other studies have shown that parent trees help their offspring using their mycorrhizal connections, to get a heads up in growing and surviving the intense competition for nutrients, water and root space. Books to read on the subject of tree and plant communication -Scientist are discovering and learning every day new aspects on this salient subject. Because this blog can not do justice to the breath of this issue, I have listed some of the best books out there on this subject matter. Note: Books are listed with the most recently published at the top. ‘Finding The Mother Tree’ by Suzanne Simard ‘The Nature of Oaks’ by Douglas Tallamy ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’ by Peter Wohlleben ‘The Song of Trees’ by David George Haskell ‘The Trees in My Forest’ by Bernd Heinrich How does one end a blog on such an important subject? It is my hope that next time you might be thinking of cutting down a tree to put up a swing set, build a fire pit, or to give yourself a better view, maybe you will think twice about the essential daily services that tree is providing you, your family, your community as well as all the other species of birds, insects and animals you share your environment with. Perhaps instead of cutting down a tree, you will find a space to plant a native tree on your property. Or maybe next time you pass a tree you will show your appreciation by sharing your gratitude with a heartfelt thank you or maybe like me, you might even become a tree hugger!
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As a Christmas gift to myself, my latest blog is all about trees. Since my earliest recollections trees have been my friends and companions. Whether it was climbing my Polish grandparent’s pear and apple trees to gather fruit, or just climbing a tree to get a wider view of my world, I loved spending as much time as possible in trees. When I saw a new tree, I immediately categorized it as climbable or not. I still find myself doing this assessment, even today. No matter how high I climbed, and it was always a thrill to soar to new heights, I felt completely protected and safe in the arms and branches, of my green and woody friends. The trees I climbed were my teachers and I was an eager student hungry to learn. They taught me many secrets of the natural world. I am not the only human that loves trees. Trees are and have been our intimate associates throughout the whole of our human evolutionary history. Our primitive ancestors lived in trees. Millions of years later, their descendants built civilizations with trees. Trees provided and still provide us with many raw materials for life including food, tools, fuel, weapons, clothing, building materials and shelter. As a thank you for all their valuable life lessons, and their faithful and lasting connection to me, I write this blog to share some of the innumerable gifts that trees offer our planet. Evolutionary history – According to the latest theories based on molecular fossil records in dated rocks, the most primitive of life forms originated on earth about 4 billion years ago. It wasn’t until one billion years ago, while still in oceans, that plants, animals and fungi diverged from a common ancestor. Life both in plant and animal form first made the transition from water to land around 500 million years ago when the atmosphere and land formations were more hospitable and could support new evolving life forms. The evolutionary role of wood – (Wood is the hard porous and fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk and branches of a tree or shrub while giving them structure) - A very simple form of wood evolved around 380 million years ago when all land plants were small and herbaceous, (herbaceous plants have non-woody stems and often die back if living in cold climates). This is when lignin, a chemical polymer and cellulose, another key compound of wood, evolved. This mixture gave plants an incredibly tough, woody outer cover. With the introduction and evolution of wood, strength was added to plants of that era, allowing them to outgrow their ancestors, and to compete with each other for the sun’s energy. Scientists sometimes call this competition for the sun’s energy an ‘arms race’, for this is the reason branches evolved on trees. At this time trees began spreading throughout the world, growing even larger, taller and more recognizable. Wood provided both a strong framework and a tough protective covering against invading insects, bacteria and diseases. Simultaneously, as trees were growing taller, their root structure was evolving to go deeper and deeper in the ground to anchor and bring stability to these giants of the plant world. Conifers – (Latin: conus – cone, ferre – to bear) - Conifers first evolved on our planet around 170 million years ago. At the time they evolved the planet was not very hospitable. The air quality was not as high in oxygen levels as it is now, temperatures were colder, rain was sporadic and unreliable and soil had few nutrients. The conifers, even today, are the tree of the coldest and most forbidding regions of our planet. They are the trees of our Boreal forests, the most northern forests of the northern hemisphere. These Boreal forests are the largest carbon sinks of our planet. A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. They sequester more carbon than any other ecosystem on our planet. Conifers are evergreens. Everything about the conifer is an adaption to the challenging and inhospitable climate and conditions of the time they evolved. Evergreens retain their leaves all year round with new ones growing as old ones are shed. Having leaves all year long allows them to make food whenever they might have favorable conditions in an unpredictable world. Evergreen leaves were in the form of needles, as they are today. Needles are modified leaves that are coated with wax to provide insulation from cold. Being thin and long, they do not loose much moisture and do not need as much nutrition. They were the perfect adaptation for a time when both water and nutrients were scarce. The conifer’s seed-bearing structure is especially adapted for survival. Conifer seeds develop inside a protective cone. These cones take from 4 months to three years to reach maturity. When the cone is mature, its scales spread open and allow its seeds to be dispersed by the wind, or in the case of pines, by birds who eat them. Another environmental adaption of the conifers is their narrow conical shape, and supple downward drooping branches that can bend and make sure snow loads slide off them harmlessly. They also have evolved to seasonally alter their bio-chemistry to make them more resistant to freezing. Interesting facts about the conifers: Our well know conifers are: cedars, Douglas fir, cypresses, firs, junipers, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces and yews. The world’s tallest and oldest trees are all conifers! The tallest known tree is the Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). The tallest know individual stands 454’ tall. Its location is a secret. The oldest living species of conifers is the Great Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva). One specimen is thought to be between 2,300 – 2,700 years old. The largest conifer species by volume is the Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). The General Sherman sequoia tree is the largest tree on the earth. It stands 275’ tall and is over 36’ at its base. It is located in the Sequoia National Park in California. Most conifers make resin. Resin is a sticky, semi liquid substance made by the tree to protect wounds in its bark against insect, fungal and bacterial infestations. Amber is fossilized resin. Deciduous Trees - (From the Latin verb, ‘decidere’ – to fall down) – Deciduous tees first started to evolve around 100 million years ago once the quality of the air, water, weather and soil on our planet had improved. Deciduous trees shed their leaves at the end of the growing season. They change according to the seasons: fall - shed leaves, winter – go dormant, spring – sprout new leaves, summer – leaves, the food factory of all plants, make food for the year. There are over 60,000 different species of deciduous trees and they are found all over the world in all but the coldest ecosystems. Deciduous trees are indispensable to all ecosystems because they bear fruit, flowers, (including nectar and pollen), and nuts making them a vital food source for most of our insects, birds, animal species as well as humans throughout our planet. Shedding leaves in winter, (or in a dry season), is a natural adaptation to conserve water and survive harsh winter weather and conditions like snow load. There is much less branch and trunk breakage from ice and snow storms when no leaves are present. The disadvantage is that the trees must have enough energy to grow new buds and leaves every year. How much food and water are stored in the roots from the previous year’s growing season will determine whether the tree is successful or not. Interesting facts about deciduous trees: The showy leaf color of the Fall is limited to areas of the planet where days are short, nights are cold and the temperature stays above freezing. In other parts of the world leaves just fall off trees without changing color. We see the reds, yellows, purples and oranges in the fall because chlorophyll is no longer being made. These other pigments have always been present but are covered up by the predominant green pigment of chlorophyll during the growing season. Before shedding its leaves, deciduous trees remove all traces of nitrogen and carbon from their foliage and store them in the form of a protein in their roots and inner bark. In the spring these proteins will be used as a nitrogen source for the growth of new flowers and leaves. Nitrogen is essential for all plants to grow because it enables the chlorophyll molecule to capture the sun’s energy. Leaf litter is Mother Nature’s compost for her soil. It also provides birds, insects, worms and small animals with everything necessary for survival, including food, water, shelter and nesting materials. |
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March 2023
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