Articles for tag: ClimbingVines, LifeOnEarth, NatureSecrets, PlantBiology, RainforestEcology

Tree bark and tangled vines are the main focus.

How Climbing Vines Outsmart Forest Giants (Without Lifting a Leaf)

Suhail Ahmed

They don’t build skyscrapers; they steal them. In forests from Panama to Pennsylvania, climbing vines hitch a ride up the bodies of trees, saving energy on wood and spending it on leaves, speed, and stealth. Scientists are now piecing together the playbook behind this apparent shortcut, revealing a suite of strategies that turn tree architecture ...

aerial view of green trees and river during daytime

A Hidden World Found Beneath the Amazon Forest Floor

Suhail Ahmed

  Dawn in the Amazon feels like a curtain lift: birds rehearse the day, mist softens the canopy, and every leaf looks freshly minted. But the real performance is happening below the stage, in soil that looks ordinary until it isn’t. There, a living mesh of fungi, roots, microbes, and insects runs the rainforest’s logistics ...