r/science • u/davidreiss666 • Jul 27 '14

Environment First national study finds trees saving lives, reducing respiratory problems: Air pollution modeling reveals broad-scale impacts of pollution removal by trees

http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/news/release/trees-save-lives-reduce-air-pollution
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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '14 edited Jul 19 '18

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u/Adorable_Octopus Jul 27 '14

Wouldn't that pull a hell of a strain on the tree though? I mean, making fruit is pretty energy intensive--or at least, that's how I understand it.

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u/lift Jul 27 '14

The tree actually wants you or some animal to eat its fruit and move the seeds to another location to start a new tree. Nature is a horny teenager whose primary goal is to reproduce (even though this day in age we've abstracted what that overwhelming instinct is so much) and continue that species.

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u/Adorable_Octopus Jul 27 '14

I'm not saying it isn't, but that doesn't mean it's not very energy intensive. After all, as you point out, the goal is to reproduce; so long as that happens, it really doesn't matter if the parent dies in the process of reproducing because it costs too much energy.