New Discoveries About Trees and Their Benefits

We might not think of it in this way, but we depend on trees for our very survival.

They provide 28 percent of the world's oxygen (with the rest of the oxygen produced by other plants or plant-like life, especially microscopic phytoplankton in the oceans). In a sense, trees are part of the world's "lungs"-pulling in carbon dioxide while creating the precious oxygen we breathe. In fact, a single large tree can produce the incredible amount of some 260 pounds of oxygen per year.

Today, a lot of people look on carbon dioxide as harmful, but it's actually an essential "plant food" for trees. Sunlight, water, chlorophyll and carbon dioxide are the main ingredients for plants to produce oxygen and so much of the delicious food we eat.

The study of trees has yielded a stunning discovery. While under a forest canopy, have you ever wondered how the tops of the trees avoid becoming hopelessly enmeshed with the branches of other trees?

As it turns out, while trees don't have eyes to "see" other branches, scientific research indicates that they can indirectly detect when their branches approach those of different trees through a phenomenon called "crown shyness," where trees adjust their growth patterns to avoid touching each other, likely due to a combination of factors like light competition and chemical signals, essentially allowing them to "sense" the proximity of other trees' canopies.

Writing for the Natural History Museum in London, science writer Emily Osterloff notes: "Research shows that plants can detect a frequency of visible light called far-red light, which can tell them how close they are to their neighbours. They can also use the blue light in the spectrum to avoid growing into the shade" ("Crown Shyness: Are Trees Social Distancing Too?" nhm.ac.uk). She further points out that the gaps allow sunlight to reach the forest floor to benefit other plants, and they may limit the spread of leaf-eating insects and tree diseases.

This ability of trees to detect when their branches approach other trees so they don't crowd out all the rays of the sun and avoid becoming a jumbled mass of branches points to trees having been "intelligently designed" rather than having fortuitously "evolved." How could a tree know it would eventually need these detectors at the end of its branches and have it embedded into its genetic software? It is much more reasonable to conclude that the tree was programmed with this complex ability from the start.

The Bible describes the tree's creation as having all of its essential elements in place from the beginning. As Genesis 1:11-12 tells us, "Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth'; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good'" (emphasis added throughout).

The tree is a gift from God that keeps on giving. Here are nine more of its benefits (most of this list is from "The Power of One Tree," Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources).

1. Its shade provides a pleasant temperature since it gives off humidity and cools the air. The U.S. Department of Agriculture states, "The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day."

2. It provides wood to build and heat houses, as well as material for their furniture.

3. It provides shelter for birds and other animals.

4. It provides protection against wind and rain-a natural "umbrella."

5. It provides protection for the soil, with its roots helping prevent erosion.

6. It provides delicious food and vital medicine for people and animals.

7. It provides nutrients to the soil when it dies-all of it is biodegradable-without pollutants!

8. It provides our main source of paper. According to estimates calculated by the University of Maine, one tree can produce around 8,333 sheets of paper. The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year.

9. It provides a sense of calm and relaxation. One study showed that hospital patients whose rooms had a view of trees recovered more quickly and were less depressed than those looking out at a brick wall. The same effect happened with schoolchildren able to see trees out their classroom window.

We should be so thankful that God created trees!

Perhaps the best tribute to trees was given by the U.S. poet Joyce Kilmer in 1913:

Trees
I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
who intimately lives with rain.Poems are made by fools like me,
but only God can make a tree.

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New Discoveries About Trees and Their Benefits

How the tops of trees avoid becoming enmeshed with the branches of other trees is yet another evidence of design.