The towering southern pine in death and decay: a dynamic aerial econiche
The towering southern pine in death and decay: a dynamic aerial econiche
A rose, by any other name may still be a rose, but the towering pine tree is an entire aerial econiche. From its vast branching root system and broad trunk planted in the ground to its limbs reaching toward the sky, the pine tree is not just a tree, but a host organism for an entire econiche of life forms. This is true while the tree lives and grows, after it dies and while it rots and decays to return to Mother Earth as organic fertilizer to enrich the soil for a new generations of plants. The entire life cycle of the pine tree, indeed, of every tree, is that of an ecological niche for a host of other organisms.
In suburban America we tend to look at trees as stalks of green which exist solely to provide shade and scenery. Yet trees are ecosystems which provide homes for many animals and plants. Even when a tree dies it remains a vital ecosystem, one which is necessary in the grand scheme of a forest. When trees are removed, are harvested, are literally raped from the landscape to leave nothing standing, this pillaging destroys more than the trees. Entire communities of plants and animals are disrupted and vanish without a trace.
For example, look closely at a southern pine tree. What do you see? Do you see just a trunk and bark with branched and pine needles that each season must be raked, bagged and disposed of in a landfill? This is the typical suburban view of a pine tree. Many people regard pine trees as just needle producers, as giant weeds which cover their immaculate lawns with needles and produce shade making it difficult to maintain a grassy lawn. Consequently in many suburban areas which were once pine forest, all the pine trees were cut down. Now where pine forest once stood there are houses, swimming pools and asphalt. Here and there stand a few small pockets of pine trees. But for the most part the forest is gone.
I happen to live in such a suburban neighborhood. Where once there was a pine forest, now there is a suburban jungle. There are only reminisce of the once great blanket of green and from that reminisce I have endeavored to learn of the animals and plants which struggle to survive in what has become increasingly an human fashioned, artificial world. But if one looks closely it is still possible to see the struggle for survival, to discover the animals and plants which make the urban jungle their home and continue to live and struggle for survival in what is a very unnatural, man-made world.
Trees represent the apex of forest, the top of the ladder of plant community which constitutes the forest. Pine trees are especially important as they grow more rapidly than many species of hardwood trees and serve to establish a forest, providing a foundation for other plants and animals, indeed, serving over time to provide a rich, organic soil substrate upon which other plants can grow and in which many small animals live.
Without pine trees there might be no hardwood forest at all. And without pine tree forest a whole host of animals and plants are lost. To understand this one has only to take a closer look at a individual pine tree.
A pine tree is a monoecious species; i.e., it has male and female gametes in separate structures. The male gametes, or pollen cones, often appear as a cluster or inflorescence which produces a rain of pollen carried by the wind to fertilize the female cones. In the case of the Loblolly Pine tree (shown in its demise in the picture at the left) female cones take two years to mature. Green pine cones slowly ripen into large brown pine cones. The green pine cones are a favorite food of squirrel which will devour hundreds of them. When pine cones mature they open to dry and release their seeds. The Loblolly Pine cones often fall to the ground and continue to open and close to release their seeds. If the pine cone gets wet during a rain storm, it closes to protect the seedlings. As the pine cone dries it again opens. Over time the pine cones will rot and decay becoming part of the rich organic top soil typical of a pine forest floor.
Pine cones themselves may serve as homes for small insects and spiders. When the seeds of a pine tree germinate they emerge sending their tiny leaflet skyward. Pine seedlings grow very rapidly and for this reason are quite often cultivated by the forest industry as a quick way to regenerate a logged forest and provide new trees for harvesting.
As a pine tree grows it provides a home for many different plants and animals. This includes moss which often grows upon the north or shaded side of a pine tree. Everything from birds to ants may live in pine trees. As pine trees become older and or die as a result of infestation by such pest insects as the southern pine beetle, they become host for fungi, beetle larvae, ant colonies and ultimately woodpeckers which depend upon dying pine trees for food and nesting.
 Fungi growing at base of dying pine tree infected with southern pine beetles.
|
As a pine tree grows it naturally looses it lower limbs which fall to the ground, rot and decay adding organic material to the soil. When a pine tree dies due to infestation by southern pine beetles, its upper limbs will all dye and begin to rot and drop, one by one to the ground. But what may appear to be a dead tree is really an entire ecosystem of animals and plants. Dead pine trees are thriving with life in the form of fungi, ant colonies and insect larvae. Over time the wood rots and when it gets wet during a rain storm, high winds and gusts will begin to break off the dead wood which falls to the ground. Eventually the top of pine trees will rot and fall to the ground. The lower portion of pine trees takes longer to rot and fall, unless of course very high winds topple the entire dead tree all at once.
When pine trees are harvested this results in removal not only of the pine trees but of the entire community of plants and animals which depends upon the pine trees. At the top of the pine tree food chain and ecosystem is the woodpecker. Removal of pine trees certainly causes a devastating blow to woodpeckers which need dead pine trees to nest.
 Red-bellied woodpeckers feed and nest in the tops of dead and decaying pine trees. View at 50 feet through 8x25 binoculars. Photo (c) 2003 by EArts.
|
Also removal of pine trees, as when an entire forest is ripped up and turned into pulpwood to make paper and fabricated board, destroys the soil, for it removes the wood, the organic matter which would normally decay and provide an organic and mineral base for new plants and animals.
Thus the pine tree is a very important species. When we turn pine forest into suburbs we destroy not only the trees but all the other plants and animals associate with a pine tree forest. This includes the many varieties of small animals which live in pine tree forest. Perhaps most notable is the firefly. Firefly larvae live in the rich organic decay of pine tree forest. The species, Photinus pyralis, in its larvae form resembles a pine needle, a form of protective resemblance which probably contributes to this firefly larvae's survival.
 Larva of the firefly Photinus pyralis newly emerged from egg. Photo (c) 2003 by EArts.
|
This species of firefly larvae eat earthworms and in the late spring and early summer pupates, undergoing complete metamorphosis to emerge as an adult firefly. This common species of firefly is the one most frequently observed gracing our suburban neighborhoods with its dance of lights. Yet when we destroy all vestiges of pine tree forest, replacing them with immaculate lawns fireflies are one of the first species to disappear. They inevitably are replaced by roaring lawn mowers and styfulling hot neighborhoods which have lost their shade producing pine trees.
In many suburban areas homes are built very close together, each home having a swimming pool, patio and drive way. Often any existing pine trees are cut to make lawn and swimming pool maintenance easier. Thus the only lights seen at night are glaring street lamps, whizzing automobile lights or the blinding ultra violent from bug zappers set out by paranoid home owners who have cut themselves off from nature to the point that they would rather hear the zap, zap, zapping of beetles and moths getting fried all night long than the chirp of crickets or katydids singing through the night.
By raping the pine forest and turning them into cities and suburbs, failing to recognize their significance, failing to see how every pine tree is an ecological niche for a host of species, we have destroyed a great and wonderful natural resource. This has resulted in the disappearance of many birds and insects, including fireflies which have disappeared completely from some suburban areas. If we wish to restore our pine forest, then planting pine trees in the suburbs is necessary. In fact if every homeowner were to plant six to twelve pine tree, this would do much to restore the pine tree as an ecological niche. Suburban areas which are well planted with pine trees will provide shade, attract birds and squirrel and provide an unending supply of pine needles for using in gardens to control the growth of weeds.
Pine trees are a valuable horticultural resource which has largely been forgotten by suburban developers and home owners. Yet if we are to preserve our environment and make our suburbs more habitable, rich with natural life, it is vital we plant pine trees in areas where pine forest once occurred. Certainly other species of trees may also be planted, but because pine trees grow more rapidly than many hardwood trees, it is important to plant pine trees to most quickly restore the loss of trees which has occurred through the tearing down of forest to build suburbs.
 Midnight blossom of pine tree in late Feburary emphasizes the beauty and horticultural resource of the pine tree. Shown here is immature male cone or microsporangiate strobili of the Loblolly Pine, also called a pollen cone. This is the structure which, when mature, will produce the male gametes or pollen which rains down as a yellow powder and covers everything beneath the pine tree. Photo (c) 2003 by EArts.
|
We live in an urban jungle and that jungle can be made of bricks and concrete or planted with trees and gardens to be made whole again with a rich assortment of animals and plants which depend upon trees. Becoming aware of the life associated with a pine tree hopefully will encourage others to plant pine trees and begin to bring back into our suburbs those animals and plants that unenlightened construction has lost.
Light Dancer