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THE STRANGLER FIG
Perhaps the most famous hemiepiphyte is the towering strangler fig tree which starts life as
Strangler Fig, Brazil 1999
a tiny seed in the canopy. The roots grow down to the forest floor where they take root and begin to take nutrients
from the soil. Gradually the roots wrap around the host tree, widen, and slowly form a lattice-work that surrounds
the host's trunk. The fig's crown grows foliage which soon overshadows the tree. Eventually, the host tree dies
leaving the fig with a hollow trunk—which is easily climbed thanks to the many openings in the trunk. Figs are
often the only tree species remaining after forest clearing, since their knotted and twisted wood is shunned by
loggers.
Almost ironically, this agent of death provides an important niche and food source to many rainforest creatures.
Its hollow trunk, with an abundance of nooks and crannies, provides an important home to thousands of invertebrates,
rodents, bats, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Many other species are attracted to the fig tree because of its
production of large amounts of good-tasting fig fruits. These fruits are packed with seeds, many of which are not
destroyed when they are consumed, and are passed out in the dung of animals far from the mother tree. In many forests
the fig tree is considered a keystone species since during parts of the year it is virtually the only tree producing
fruit. During these lean times, many primates and birds feed almost exclusively on fig fruit.
The fig tree is a successful forest species, with some 900 species of Ficus distributed around the world thanks
to its excellent means of dispersal (abundant, good-tasting fruit). But its reproduction is limited by a mutual
evolutionary pollination relationship with the gall wasp. The fruits (figs) of the ficus tree grow in clusters
on short stems that spring directly from the tree trunk. Each fig has a tiny hole, an entrance just large enough
for the female gall wasp, full of eggs, to enter. As she squeezes through the entrance, she loses both her wings
and is unable to leave after entering. She deposits the pollen that she has carried and lays her eggs in the stigma
of the flowers within the fig seed. Then she dies, and the hole in the fig wall closes. After a few days, the young
male wasps—which develop faster than females—hatch and chew open the eggs of the females and mate with them. The
males then chew a hole in the wall of the fig fruit and proceed to die. On the way out, the winged females are
tagged with pollen. The female wasps, now full of eggs, can only make one flight with their delicate wings. In
that one flight, the female must not only find the right species of fig, but one in the right stage of development.
If she fails, she will not have the strength to make another flight. If she happens upon the correct species with
the right characteristics, she will reenact the process of her mother, ensuring another generation of wasps, and
hence another generation of Ficus.
"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site. "Jungle" is generally not used.
Recent news
Beef consumption fuels rainforest destruction (02/16/2009)
Nearly 80 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon results from cattle ranching, according to a new report by Greenpeace. The finding confirms what Amazon researchers have long known – that Brazil's rise to become the world's largest exporter of beef has come at the expense of Earth's biggest rainforest.
How to save the Amazon rainforest (01/04/2009)
Environmentalists have long voiced concern over the vanishing Amazon rainforest, but they haven't been particularly effective at slowing forest loss. In fact, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in donor funds that have flowed into the region since 2000 and the establishment of more than 100 million hectares of protected areas since 2002, average annual deforestation rates have increased since the 1990s, peaking at 73,785 square kilometers (28,488 square miles) of forest loss between 2002 and 2004. With land prices fast appreciating, cattle ranching and industrial soy farms expanding, and billions of dollars' worth of new infrastructure projects in the works, development pressure on the Amazon is expected to accelerate. Given these trends, it is apparent that conservation efforts alone will not determine the fate of the Amazon or other rainforests. Some argue that market measures, which value forests for the ecosystem services they provide as well as reward developers for environmental performance, will be the key to saving the Amazon from large-scale destruction. In the end it may be the very markets currently driving deforestation that save forests.
Amazon rainforest damage surges 67% in 2008 (12/20/2008)
The area of rainforest in the process of being deforested — razed but not yet cleared — surged in the Brazilian Amazon during 2008, according to new figures released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The announcement comes shortly after the Brazilian government reported a 4 percent increase in forest clearing for the year. Using an advanced satellite system that tracks changes in vegetation cover INPE found that 24,932 square kilometers of Amazon forest was damaged between August 2007 and July 2008, an increase of 10,017 square kilometers -- 67 percent -- over the prior year.
Cutting deforestation can fight climate change, reduce poverty and conflict (09/24/2008)
Forest conservation can play a critical role in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate poverty, said a prominent group of politicians, development experts, and environmental NGOs meeting in New York City to discuss U.S. climate policy.
Future threats to the Amazon rainforest (07/31/2008)
Between June 2000 and June 2008, more than 150,000 square kilometers of rainforest were cleared in the Brazilian Amazon. While deforestation rates have slowed since 2004, forest loss is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This is a look at past, current and potential future drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.
