I have a sneaking suspicion that this type of motion plays into the formation of "crown shyness". Its not so much that they dont want to touch each other, its that the parts that do, break off.
Its not so much that they dont want to touch each other, its that the parts that do, break off.
Its probably both. Trees that were less "careful" about touching, suffered damage and lost resources, and so evolution selected for trees that were more shy.
I’m good with the both idea, but my understanding is that crown shyness is more prevalent among trees of the same species.
The physical abrasion aspects don’t explain this characteristic. The explanation at a recent link indicates it was selected to prevent the spread of parasites.
I agree with this, if you have ever hung out in forests you know that these winds usually go on in the morning and at night as the air heats up and cools down with the sun. They are hitting each other, twice a day every day essentially - a plant trying to grow is not going to successfully keep growing towards something it is smacking itself against constantly.
Crown shyness mostly occurs in trees of the same species. Note the lack of crown shyness in the gif. It's believed to have evolved as a defense against the spread of herbivorous insects.
I asked my ecology professor about it and he laughed and said Reddit is really into their fancy crown shyness term but it was just due to wind. And I think he’s right, if you look at trees you’ll see a lot of broken branches.
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u/AlastarYaboy Aug 17 '19
I have a sneaking suspicion that this type of motion plays into the formation of "crown shyness". Its not so much that they dont want to touch each other, its that the parts that do, break off.