Luckily strike.
Ray is seen as a murderer, leaving behind the destruction and death of trees, but a tropical species has evolved to use the force of nature for benefit.
The Tonka bean tree, scientifically known as Dipteryx Oleifera, has developed the ability to not only survive attacks but also to transfer the electricity of the rays to their “enemies” and the parasitic vines that adhere to the Tonka bean trees, according to a new study in the new fitologist.
Lightning is largely a cause of trees mortality in tropical forests, especially when it comes to the largest and older trees that play an important role in indignation carbon and support for biodiversity.
But even with all the remains, the researchers noticed that a kind of tree seemed to become unscathed, and through.
“We began to do this work 10 years ago, and it really became a team that the rays kill many trees, special many very large trees,” said Evan Gora, lead author of study and forest environmentalist of the caristituta of Ecosystem. “But Dipteryx Oleifera showed no damage.”
The researchers analyzed almost 100 different ray events in the Natural Monument of Panama Colorado Barro using a personalized system with electric field sensors and cameras to track the rays. They also studied decades of tree plot records.
The scientists developed a high -resolution detection system by placing the antenna matrix through Panama Central, which detected radio waves of electricity shaking.
The blows with high precision could be triangular when studying the registered energy energy patterns. Combined with ground surveys and drone images, researchers could identify the forest area that was beaten and continues to monitor tree conditions approximately time.
The Tonka bean tree highlighted researchers as a species that constantly showed little or no damage after lightning.
“Around those 40 years, there is a quantifiable and detectable danger that lives with Dipteryx Oleifera. [As a tree]It is considerable that you live next to any other oldest oldest tree in that forest, “Gora said.
According to the findings, each lightning strike killed more than 2.4 tons on average of nearby trees and 78% of the parasitic vines that joined the canopy of the Tonka bean tree.
It is likely that the physical structure of the Tonka bean tree is its resistance to lightning, Gora speculated.
These trees tend to grow high and large, up to 130 feet, and live for centuries, which means that it is believed that a single Tonka bean tree is affected by lightning at least five times after reaching maturity, and each strike helps eliminate vineyards and competitors, which helps prosper and increase its life.
Being beaten by lightning could lead to an increase of 14 times in the production of seeds for life, the researchers said.
Gora and the team of researchers hope to continue their research, expanding to other forests in Africa and Southast Asia to see if there are other species that benefit from the rays.
