Spaces to breathe
Near here, you may have spotted a large fallen tree: a fallen giant. Looking up, can you see the gap in the canopy this tree has left behind? Just as the fallen trunk will create new habitat and be recycled into nutrients for other forest species, this space in the sky opens new opportunities.
Letting in more light allows small saplings, some of which may remain dormant for many years, to race towards this gap.
You may also observe how closely the form of the canopy above you resembles lungs: the branches the larger airways; the smaller twigs and leaves the bronchioles and alveoli. The wind in the canopy is something like the forest breathing, and reflects another cycle here: the oxygen cycle. Trees and other plants produce oxygen – essential for our survival – while both you and plants produce carbon dioxide, which is essential for the photosynthesis of these trees.