Are Trees just like People?

                                                   By Len Phillips

Trees are NOT just like people, or are they? Trees are at the top of the plant kingdom and people are at the top of the animal kingdom. However, since we all evolved on the same planet, I wondered if we are more similar than we care to admit?

For example, trees are superior survival organisms. They have grown on the earth for at least 400 million years, and people are superior survival organisms and have roamed the earth for one hundred thousand years.

Throughout the planet, the goal of all living creatures is to survive and reproduce. The strategies to do so are programmed into a genetic code. In a tree, the genetic code is expressed as the tree's structure and function. Trees make seeds, bark, leaves, roots, and wood, all according to their genetic code. People also have a genetic code that dictates a person’s features, health, and personality in addition to structure and function. People make babies according to their genetic code.

Lets look at some other examples:

Seed fertilization with trees occurs when male pollen is carried by insects to the female flower, or the pollen is dispersed by wind blowing the pollen to nearby female flowers. In people, if a woman’s egg meets up with a healthy male sperm on its way to the uterus, the process of creating a new life begins. Going one step further, a tree will produce much more pollen that is necessary for the few female flowers that will require pollination. A man will produce much more sperm that is necessary for the one female egg that will require fertilization.

However, not all the flowers on a tree and not all pollen will become fertile and develop seeds. Not all of a woman's eggs and not all a man's sperm will create a baby. In both situations, the genetic material in the pollen and sperm combine with the female reproductive organs to create a new cell that will rapidly start dividing into a seed or baby that will contain the genetic characteristics of both parents.

During gestation in trees, seeds are being formed. A tree seed accumulates reserves of food and its fullest development is rich in carbohydrates, fats, proteins and growth hormones. The essential parts of all seeds are the embryo, the protective covering of the seed coat and a reserve of food substances which may be stored in the cotyledons, hypocotyl, endosperm, or perisperm, depending on the tree species. All of this food, enclosure, and protection is supplied by the mother tree. This food reserve provides nourishment to push the growth of an embryonic tree, until it can survive on its own.

During a baby person's gestation, the rising levels of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and growth hormones prepare the uterus to support a fertilized egg, and to enclose the growing baby over the coming months. Humans begin cell division and infant development within the ovaries as soon as the sperm has made contact with the egg. The baby is protected within the womb of the mother as it grows with food supplied by the mother.

Gestation in trees is the time it takes for the seed to grow and ripen on the tree within a fruit or shell. When the seed is ripe, it has developed to a point where it can survive in the forest. Gestation is defined in a woman as the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside the uterus. When the baby is born it has developed to a point where it can survive with parental care.

Seed dispersal strategies for trees vary widely, from wind-driven seeds such as on a maple tree, to seeds falling on the ground beneath a nut tree, to seeds carried away by certain species of animals or birds such as a crabapple being eaten by a bird and the seeds are dropped some distance from the tree after passing through the bird. Seeds can be spread anywhere on the globe. When the tree seed falls close to the parent it grows and becomes part of a grove of trees. The groves can be found in locations that provide the ideal locations for the particular tree species growing in the forest.

A baby is born when it has developed to a point where it can survive outside of the womb. Unlike trees, people have babies that stay with the parents until they are old enough to leave their home and then they may wish to settle close to home or their mobility allows them to move anywhere on the globe. When the baby stays close to home it becomes a familly and many families create a village.

When tree seeds are being formed, most trees store food as a reserve within the seed itself. The food consists of starch, proteins, and oils. This food reserve provides nourishment to push the growth of an embryonic tree. When the seed imbibes water, hydrolytic enzymes are activated which break down these stored food resources into metabolically useful chemicals that will begin the growth process. There will be enough food to keep the embryonic tree growing until the primary leaves and roots begin photosynthesis and roots begin to grow. The embryonic tree then becomes a seedling growing on its own, with no assistance from its parents.

Human babies also store food from the mother, internally, within the baby’s body as it grows in the womb. When the growth and other conditions are just right, the birth process begins. The baby will have enough energy to tolerate the push down the mother’s birth canal until it is born. Then the baby will begin to grow under the external care of its parents, unlike the tree that will grow on its own.

Trees have one advantage over people. Besides growing from seeds, most trees can also survive through regeneration from stump or root sprouts. These sprouts start from dormant buds that formed during the growth process. When injuries, disease, or other types of disturbance occurs somewhere on the tree, sprouts begin to develop as a response. The sprouts will grow into trees.

People on the other hand, have an advanage over trees. If growing conditions are not just right, people can move to a new location for more food, more safety, or a better climate.

One other point where we differ from trees is that plants can make their own food using energy from the sun so they can grow. People and animals have to kill and eat plants for their energy source so they can grow.

And all of this is just the similarities between trees and people at the beginning of life. Think about how trees and people grow, live, die, and communicate. Maybe mankind will read and understand our position in the world and develop a better appreciation of trees. If not, trees will certainly out-live mankind.