Tasmania’s mountain ash, known scientifically as Eucalyptus regnans, stands as the world’s tallest flowering plant, reaching heights of up to 100 meters and living for more than 600 years. These towering giants are crucial to their ecosystems, offering habitat and contributing to the health of the natural world. However, their numbers are dwindling due to threats like logging, land degradation, fire, and climate change.
This decline highlights a broader issue: the tendency of humans to undervalue plants despite the wealth of knowledge they offer. At the forefront of exploring these lessons is the Deep Design Lab, which designs and constructs wildlife habitats by drawing inspiration from nature’s successful solutions. To address the loss of large hollows in ancient trees, the lab has innovated by 3D-printing nest boxes for owls and other species, replicating the natural designs that birds prefer.
The Importance of Dead Trees and Fallen Branches
Common practice often involves removing dead trees and fallen branches due to concerns over safety and tidiness. Yet, these elements are vital for wildlife, providing habitat for microbes, insects, lizards, birds, and mammals. Dead wood is easier to digest, and leafless branches offer better perches and views.
Exposure to diverse ecosystems, including dead trees, supports human health and wellbeing. Therefore, it is beneficial to retain dead trees and incorporate them safely into urban designs.
Preserving Old Trees for Future Generations
Mature trees possess unique features such as hollows, cracks, and large quantities of fruit, nectar, and seeds. These attributes make them invaluable to over 300 species of Australian native mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians that rely on tree hollows, which can take centuries to form.
Designers and land managers should prioritize the preservation of old trees, integrating them into urban planning. Homeowners, too, can appreciate their contributions, fostering urban environments that are lush and biodiverse rather than sterile and barren.
The Role of Roots in Urban Design
Trees absorb water and nutrients through their roots, which adapt to maximize uptake in scarce conditions. The surrounding environment supports beneficial microorganisms and regulates plant growth. Unfortunately, urban design often traps roots under impermeable surfaces like concrete.
To combat this, urban planners should employ permeable surfaces, such as soil, gravel, or perforated pavers, facilitating root growth. Healthy urban trees contribute to biodiversity, resilience, and aesthetic appeal.
Bark Streamers: Overlooked Ecological Features
Peeling bark strips, or streamers, create microhabitats for insects like flightless tree crickets. Despite their ecological value, bark streamers are often overlooked in urban tree maintenance.
The Deep Design Lab is exploring how to use bark streamers to enhance the ecological value of younger trees and incorporate them into human-made structures. This approach could provide wildlife habitats in areas where natural trees cannot grow.
Understanding the Value of Litter
Fallen leaves, seeds, twigs, and branches enrich soil, retain moisture, and provide habitat for various organisms. However, urban areas often remove this organic litter, disrupting ecological interactions and depriving trees of nutrients.
Designers and the public can adopt strategies to retain organic litter, such as creating wild zones or modifying maintenance practices, to preserve ecological benefits while meeting public expectations.
Plants as Designers: A New Perspective
Humans often value brain-based cognition and overlook other forms of intelligence, such as the problem-solving capabilities of trees. The capacity of trees to construct supportive habitats for themselves and others warrants further research.
The Deep Design Lab employs technology like laser scanning and computer modeling to study trees, recognizing and preserving natural patterns. By learning from these designs, humans can create more sustainable and resilient environments.
With gratitude to Julian Rutten and Alexander Holland of the Deep Design Lab, who co-authored the original research and contributed to this article.
