The Strangler Fig: Competition in a Forest

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Competition for trees in a forest, especially a rainforest, is very high. The taller, older trees with huge canopies and root networks get most of the sunlight, leaving shorter trees with a smaller chance of survival. The strangler fig tree is one of the “higher” competitors in the area. It can easily out-compete its host tree and other smaller trees and plants. Instead of starting at the first level of the forest floor as most seedlings do, the strangler fig’s seeds skip ahead of the crowd-growing on a high branch or crook of a host tree. It might have gotten there by animal or bird droppings. At first, the plant grows very slowly, its only nutrients supplied by the waste it was carried in, the sun, rain, and decaying leaves on its host’s branches. The roots of the strangler fig dangle, slither down the host tree’s trunk, and keep growing until they eventually reach the forest floor. Reaching the ground, the roots of the strangler fig begin competing with its host tree for water and nutrients in the soil, growing at a rapid rate. After a couple of years, the strangler fig’s thickened roots wrap around its victim and soon envelope the other tree’s trunk. The fig tree’s crown rises above the host tree’s and robs it of its sunlight, while the roots steal most of the nutrients in the soil from the other tree. Unable to grow, the host tree eventually dies and decomposes from strangulation, lack of sunlight, and lack of nutrients, leaving behind a standing strangler fig tree with a hollow

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