Changes

This time, when we departed from our comfortable city hub of Brisbane, we embarked on a mountainous excursion to the beautiful, nature filled Lamington National park. As the road wounded and my ears popped I looked out of the window. Greeted by a steep valley of green trees stretching into a blue haze as far as the eye could see, I knew I was far from familiarity. Butterflies welled inside the pit of my core and I imagined what adventures could possibly await me among this wooded expanse of wooded earth. I found Barry Davies, our next guide, and he told stories of fact and fiction—but mostly fact—that laid ground for this blog, where I will discuss adaptation. We’ve all been familiar with this term since learning about Darwinism in middle school. However, one pressing piece of evidence that I will take from this trip, as a whole, concerns the fact that notions we have of ideas versus being in a situation where we can experience them first hand has a poignant impact on your critical process.

We stayed at Binna Burra lodge, an eco tourist haven with cabins, campsites and fireplaces galore. What was most striking about this place however was the trails that led to the rain forests

of the surrounding park—declared a World Heritage site in 1994 for its outstanding demonstration of natural history. Barry took us on a 7 hours hike into rainforest after a quick introduction to the area and I witnessed this historic wonder directly. There were so many different trees and plants in each area. At first, it seemed almost like a random mess but when I looked closer I realized that this was the natural order of things.

Plants grow and compete for space and sunlight. Those that don’t have the evolutionary skills to adapt die but this is not a dead end. They decompose and become part of the earth again, giving other plants the nutrients they need to survive. Bigger trees also provide homes for insects, moss and smaller animals while they break down. One interesting example of this phenomenon was the vine tree, which grows in tropical rain forests. It finds a host tree and grows up and around it into the sunlight peak of the canopy, eventually killing its host. The deliberate twisting bark of this huge specimen is fascinating but there are tons of examples like this in the rainforest.

It is funny that we use the term “the rainforest” because there are multiple rain forests contained in what we would consider one overarching area.  In one day of hiking we experienced three different rainforest areas: subtropical, warm temperate and cool temperate.  There is a very noticeable change when you work your way up through each of these climates.

“The cooler it is the simpler the rainforest” says Davies

In warmer climates such as tropical and warm temperate you will see a thicker canopy with more vines and huge trees with out-stretching buttress roots dominating the forest floor.  When we moves upward to the cooler temperate forest we still saw huge tree but with more spacing and less of the outstretching roots we noticed earlier. It also got a bit drier so, at a certain point, we moved from an expansive covering of trees and canopy to rays of light piercing through the canopy with grasses and bush trees radiating from the ground. When we moved to a very high and dry part of the trail our guide prompted us to sniff out our surroundings. He made note that, in dry climates, plants become aromatic in an attempt to keep things from eating them.  I thought this was particularly odd because things work completely different in the mind of a primate such as myself. If I smell something good I’m more tempted to put it in my mouth. This was just another lesson that taught me that I was in a different world than the one I was used to and that though, as humans, we are seen as ultimately resourceful beings that we are not very sustainable.

There are aspects of natural adaptation and competition that may seem cruel or backwards to use but it is the natural order of things and it has worked before any human was here to take note. These changes are also a lot more natural than the ways humans choose to adapt to our changing climate. We turn up the air conditioner when we get hot, take multiple showers when we sweat or watch TV when we get bored. All of these things take away from the natural environment but all trees know how to do is give back and adapt in ways that will add to their environment. Sadly, all of the ways that humans change their surrounding also tend to be instant whereas plants and animals of the rainforest need hundreds of years to adjust.  I know we are all use to the familiar plea to “Save the rainforest” but what we really need to think it to sustain the rainforest because they don’t need our help much beyond that. Plus it sounds better thank “Stop killing the rainforest” which honestly is more accurate.