Often times, species are
interacting with each other right in front of our eyes, yet we don’t realize
it. Before we step into this forested area, look around at the vegetation. Does
it seem like the species here are helping each other? Probably not that much;
these are the first species to come in after a disturbance, and their goal is
just to colonize the area as soon as they can. Unfortunately for them, they are
not good at preventing new species at coming in. Eventually, species that are
better at competing come in, such as this Douglas Fir. This is when
facilitation between species becomes more obvious. Douglas Fir generally loves
the sun, and grows big when it gets plenty of it. This ends up creating quite a
bit of shade, which then allows other plants, those that love the shade, to
grow in that space. The perfect example of a shade-loving plant that grows well with the aid of the Doulas Fir is this Western Hemlock here.
Western Hemlock is one of the few trees that are shade tolerant, and is easy to
identify because if you look closely at the needles, they are all of varying
length, which is how the Latin name Tsuga
heterophylla came about (heterophylla meaning “different leaf”, or in this
case, leaves of different lengths). Although it doesn’t seem like it, this kind of interaction is
happening all the time; early colonizing species change the conditions of the
environment to allow other species to come along and take their place. This
sequential cycle of plants is called succession, and is often reset by large
disturbances.
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| Douglas-Fir, soaking up the sun |
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| Western Hemlock, hiding in the shade, being a recluse. |
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