article on importance of trees

Most plants classified as trees have a single self-supporting trunk containing woody tissues, and in most species the trunk produces secondary limbs, called branches. Trees are nature’s memory stick, even at the molecular level. It’s estimated that trees can reduce the temperature in a city by up to 7°C. They consume carbon dioxide which is really very important to be consumed. All rights reserved. It was replaced in 1951, and the dance platform, supported in part by the tree, was rebuilt in 2001. This classification was used for almost 1,000 years. Consequently, from both a taxonomic and a phylogenetic perspective, the tree is an artificial category. Trees Lessen Noise. We hold trees in our imagination, where they grow in strange, wonderful ways in forests inhabited by fantasy and also by our fears. Some paleobotanists suggest that trees are the most primitive members within these plant families. Trees Fight Soil Erosion. (The ancient tree still stands, its location a guarded secret.) A tale told in many cultures recounts how a monk, listening to a bird sing in the woods, discovered that in a blink of time, hundreds of years had flown by. tree - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), tree - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). In 2000 vandals with a chain saw cut a three-foot-deep gash halfway around its circumference. And so the celestial clock reverberates in the seasonal cycle of a tree whose branches bear the fruit of hope. “But I prayed to this neem, and … he lived.” The tree is dressed in cloth and wears a face mask of the goddess to strengthen the connection between her and worshippers. On an ecological basis, however, the tree can be recognized as a natural construct, as it represents an adaptive strategy by many different taxa to exploit and dominate the habitat above the ground. Anne Frank died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February 1945. The importance of trees goes far and deep into our everyday lives and the balance of the entire ecosystem. Water runoff is a serious issue in the city environment, as runoff can increase the exposure to pollution and cause property damage (Braden & Johnston, 2004). The apple that fell from the tree in front of Sir Isaac Newton’s childhood home, Woolsthorpe Manor, did not, as myth suggests, smack the great man on the head. They help in keeping away soil erosion and keep the environment clean and fresh. Here are some of the more provocative findings from recent research on how trees increase human well-being. Cycads compose the Cycadophyta, a division of gymnospermous plants consisting of 4 families and approximately 140 species. On hillsides or stream slopes, trees slow runoff and hold soil in place. Trees are represented in each of the major groups of the vascular plants: pteridophytes (seedless vascular plants that include the tree ferns), gymnosperms (cycads, ginkgoes, and conifers), and angiosperms (flowering plants). Trees can store pollutants for their own use, or they can change the pollutants into less harmful forms. Conifers (division Coniferophyta) include trees and shrubs in 7 extant families and 550 species. … By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. She was 15 years old. “It understood, when none of us understood, that it needed to be around.”. Let’s first look at some history about Ashoka the great … One online guide to offbeat tourist attractions lists dozens of such “shoe trees” scattered over several U.S. states. Further, there is no clear consensus as to whether the tree form is the advanced or primitive condition. Also white harts that leap just ahead of the hunter’s arrow, and a hermit who may emerge just in time to nudge along a tale that ends happily ever after, but sometimes not. One large tree … The tree also helps as a filter to the atmosphere. Trees provide a foundation to life. For more information on the three botanical groups that include trees, see fern, gymnosperm (including conifers), and angiosperm (the flowering plants). As climate change and global warming become more of a threat to our planet’s ecosystem, ignorance and inaction must be replaced by attention and care for our urban and forest tree populations to survive. During photosynthesis, trees generate enough oxygen that helps both humans and animals to survive. Wrote his friend and biographer William Stukeley: “The notion of gravitation came into his mind … occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood.”. Tree, woody plant that regularly renews its growth (perennial). Trees are considered “decentralized green infrastructure” and can be important tools for managing water, especially in an urban ecosystem (Berland et al., 2017). Trees invite dreaminess. They give us clean water to drink, air to breathe, shade and food to humans, animals and plants. (Pando is Latin for “I spread.”) Each trunk is genetically identical and no more than 150 years old, but the root system may be the oldest living organism on the planet. Small groups of trees and even single trees have a similar role locally in preventing washouts and in holding stream banks. Australia. But as an account published in 1752 said, it prompted a reverie that in time crystallized into the law of gravity. “It’s as if that tree had a will to survive,” said Mark Bays, an urban forester for the state who helped it recover. In the process of absorbing water, some contaminants will be degraded by the trees for their own use. In 1964 another researcher was coring a spectacular specimen in Nevada to determine its age, when the drill bit broke. In this article, you discovered the importance of trees in forest and urban settings, how they affect the environment, wildlife, and our health. To many, the word tree evokes images of such ancient, powerful, and majestic structures as oaks and sequoias, the latter being among the most massive and longest-living organisms in the world. Steel brackets and cables were installed to stabilize the tree, which continues to thrive. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. “A place to meet and talk, to seek compromise and settle disputes, to bridge differences and foster unity,” wrote Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations, from Ghana, in his memoir. They release oxygen which is essential to living. The Real Importance of Trees In Our Life. The biosphere is dependent on the metabolism, death, and recycling of plants, especially trees. By far the greatest number of tree species are dicotyledons; they are represented by such familiar groups as birches, elms, hollies, magnolias, maples, oaks, poplars, ashes, and willows. It is a relic that has been preserved in cultivation around Buddhist temples in China and elsewhere since the mid-18th century; the tree probably no longer exists in a wild state. In wider definitions, the taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos are also trees. Penguin Books. Importance of trees are: Trees create an ecosystem to provide habitat and food for birds and other animals. Finally the logging company relented and agreed to a conservation easement. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- (DOC) ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF TREES TO THE ENVIRONMENT.docx | Adeniyi D E B O R A H Oluwatosin - Academia.edu Trees serve a great purpose in maintaining the environment and aids in … Although the majority of Earth’s terrestrial biomass is represented by trees, the fundamental importance of these seemingly ubiquitous plants for the very existence and diversity of life on Earth is perhaps not fully appreciated. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. We incorporate the rich metaphors that trees provide: We turn over a new leaf and branch out; ideas blossom and bear fruit. Trees help prevent soil erosion. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? April brings the tender green of renewal, and in June it is fully dressed for summer. They are home to numerous birds, insects and animals. They provide habitats for numerous species of fauna and flora, firewood for cooking and heat, materials for buildings and places of spiritual, cultural and recreational importance. Oxygen and Global Warming: Like human beings, trees also breathe. Their vast trunks and root systems store carbon dioxide, move water, and produce oxygen that is released into the atmosphere. Convinced that tree rings could reveal Earth’s climate history, scientist Edmund Schulman spent summers out West hunting the oldest living specimens. Benefits of Urban Trees. They screen unsightly structures and activities, give privacy and soften the hard lines of buildings. Today the elm is more than 40 feet high, with a 60-foot-wide crown. Roadside signs warn of steep fines for littering, but one traveler’s trash is another’s arboreal art. Though the goddess Kishimojin is a guardian deity of children, her backstory paints a darker picture. They provide shade to men and animals. The ancient Greeks developed a classification about 300 bce in which plants were grouped according to their general form—that is, as trees, shrubs, undershrubs, and vines. After the tree was cut down for study and its rings were found to total 4,862, scientists realized that they had unwittingly felled what was then the oldest tree known. This may be contrasted with a shrub, which might be loosely defined as a woody plant with multiple stems that is, in most cases, less than 3 metres (about 10 feet) tall. REFERENCES 1 Coder, R. D. (1996)!Identified Benefits of Community Trees and Forests. Probably the most well-researched benefit of nature exposure is that it seems to help decrease our stress, rumination, and anxiety. Importance of Trees. Erosion control has always started with tree and grass planting projects. The tree is not an immutable biological category but rather a human concept based on visual criteria. “Something good survived something so bad.”. In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, supporting branches and leaves in most species.In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are usable as lumber or plants above a specified height. Some memories sicken the heart, like those summoned by the chestnut that stood outside the house at 263 Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, where young Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis. However, tree forms are found in all the vascular plants, from the club mosses and ferns to the gymnosperms and angiosperms. Like other so-called palaver trees, it’s a traditional setting for storytelling, ceremonies, and regulating village life. It is furthermore true that, among the flowering plants, trees are found not only among the most primitive members (order Magnoliales) but also among the more specialized, or advanced, members, such as the roses (order Rosales). 4 Uni ted S a es Department of Agriculture Southern Region. Chief Horticulture Assistant to the Senior Horticulture Specialist, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx. To learn more about our earth and what makes it up, we offer this course on geology. Full articles, photos, free. Perhaps a general definition would describe a tree as a perennial woody plant that develops along a single main trunk to a height of at least 4.5 metres (15 feet) at maturity. Since they had their origins in aqueous environments, they did not require the specialized conducting and supporting tissues afforded by roots and stems, nor did they require localized regions of carbohydrate synthesis, since each cell was involved in metabolism, water and nutrient absorption, and respiration. The squat, bulbous boab has provided water, food, medicine, shelter, even burial crypts for Aboriginals, some of whom regard the tree as sacred. It would not be wrong to say that trees give us life. Trees are of invaluable importance to our environment and to human well being. Surely the most notable coordinates in the atlas of inspiration converge in front of a tree—an apple tree, surrounded by a wicket fence, in an orchard in Lincolnshire, England. This article discusses the historical, popular, and botanical classifications of trees, their evolution, their importance to humans, and their general structure and patterns of growth. Trees are also an attraction for clouds and rain. Some bear messages marking special occasions: baby shoes celebrating a birth, wing tips from a wedding, combat boots from a soldier’s homecoming. Forests are of immense importance in soil stabilization and erosion control, especially in mountainous and hilly regions; they also protect and conserve water supplies and prevent floods. Are birch trees short-lived? Tradition holds that this tree, which stands in the courtyard of the Zoshigaya Kishimojin Temple in Tokyo, brings fertility to worshippers. […] Trees are an essential part of the environment. Forests provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people, absorb harmful carbon from the atmosphere, and are key ingredients in 25% of all medicines. To neighborhood residents who worship the tree at the Nanghan Bir Baba Temple, in Varanasi, it is that and more. Hadn’t Buddha reached enlightenment while meditating under the bodhi tree? Thus, a given woody species may be a tree in one set of habitats within its range and a shrub elsewhere. Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and the carbon that they store in their wood helps slow the rate of global warming. Natives of warm regions of the Eastern and Western hemispheres, they also are remnants of a much larger number of species that in past geologic ages dominated the Earth’s flora. In fable and legend, a forest shelters spirits, witches, and once upon a time, a big bad wolf. Suitably chastened, she vowed henceforth to protect all children. Trees are nature’s water filters, capable of cleaning up the most toxic wastes, including explosives, solvents and organic wastes, largely through a dense community of microbes around the tree… 2 Ma r car, N. Retrieved May 28, 2008 f om www.csi o.au/scien e/ SalinityStreamflow.html 3 Tudge, C. (2006) The Sec ret Lives of T ees. For example, the spruce and fir may thrive in the tree form at the base of a mountain but assume a shrub form near the mountaintop, the variation due principally to stresses exerted by such environmental conditions as altitude, temperature, and oxygen tension. If all the tissues of massive tree trunks were alive, for example, the physiological cost of maintaining these structures in the living state would be enormous and probably unattainable. Roots provided anchorage and absorption of sufficient water and nutrients to support the remainder of the plant. There are few organisms as important as trees for maintaining Earth’s ecology. Colorado State Forest Service - What is a Tree? She speaks to the significance of trees when it comes to manufacturing, as well as the damage humans have caused to them.

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