This mesmerizing video of a strange tree phenomenon can bring peace to your day
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
April 19, 2019, 1:49:55 PM EDT
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As the wind moved through the trees in a forest near Tulum, Mexico, Dimitar Karanikolov, an architect and photographer, sent a drone high above the canopy in early April. Amid the chorus of songbirds and the rushing of wind, the trees sway back and forth, barely touching in the mesmerizing video he captured. The distance between them creates channels and tributaries of space in a phenomenon called "crown shyness."
This doesn't happen in every forest, and scientists are still stumped as to what makes trees so bashful. There is evidence that it occurs among trees of the same species and possibly the same age.
The trees in Plaza San Martin Buenos Aires form channels in the canopy in a phenomenon is known as "crown shyness." (Flickr/Dag Peak)
There are a few theories as to why this phenomenon occurs. One suggests that the wind is responsible, causing enough abrasion between the branches of neighboring trees to cause the gap. Much like two siblings on the verge of an argument, the trees end up just out of reach of poking each other. Just barely.
This theory's reception has been mixed, with a few studies confirming wind can have this effect while others have found "no significant difference" between sites with windy and sheltered stands of trees.
Others theorize that it is not the wind, but the neighboring trees that influence the creation of the phenomenon in their competition for sunlight. As the theory goes, trees may be able to detect the presence of another tree before being shaded by it. This is theorized to happen through trees perceiving the red of the light bounced from one leaf to another. Through this far-red light, the trees are able to sense leaves from other trees and naturally avoid the plants that could shade them from the sunlight they need.
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Some studies have shown that some trees with nearby relatives will specifically avoid growing in a way that would shade that neighbor.
Whether the shyness is from a sibling argument or family cooperation, the phenomenon retains its serenity.
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