Trees Help Reptiles Thrive

Trees have a beautiful connection with Mother Nature. It is impossible to explain in an entirety, through mere words. The ecosystem is composed of all living and non-living entities with which trees have found a relationship, a link to it. For instance, if you take a glimpse on any of the trees close by, you’ll notice how it harbours many creatures like birds, reptiles, squirrels and not just those leaves. Insects and animals find their havens in trees, as if the branches extend out to greet them, tug them in. Just the sight of this instils an emotion in our hearts.

We asked a local tree service business owner on his thoughts about reptiles and trees, and Louie, the owner of Las Vegas Tree Trimmers, said he’s had to turn down jobs due to the habitat needs of the tree for the current residence, which were reptiles.

THE ECOSYSTEM

An ecosystem can be envisioned as a functional unit of nature, where living organisms interact among themselves and also with the physical environment that surrounds them.

An ecosystem can vary greatly in the aspect of its size. And because of this very reason, ecosystem is broadly divided into two, terrestrial ecosystem and aquatic ecosystem. For instance, the interaction between fishes in a pond, animals in forests and the like can be considered as an ecosystem that comes under the category of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem, respectively. There is no upper limit to the size of an ecosystem. In the article, we will deal with the interaction of trees and the animals that reside in them.

TREES AND REPTILES

There are a large number of reptiles that live in forests. The reptile class consists of amphibians like frogs, and snakes like the boa and pythons. Most of the reptiles are seen with special mechanism that helps them take cover or even hunt for food by camouflaging. Their skin gets adapted to the tree trunks colour and helps them exist in a deep and dark forest like the Amazon forest.

Reptiles usually dwell in grounds and tend to have an affinity toward woody remains or fragments of tree logs, fallen logs, and leaf litter. These are the places they feel safer and comfortable to live and even lay their eggs.

But nowadays, many of the reptile species have become endangered and it has caused a dent in the ecosystem. The main reason for their endangerment and extinction is the change in their surrounding environment which is mainly caused by human beings.

TREES AND ANIMALS

As said earlier, trees are the homes of a million insects and animals as well. Some animals spend most of their existence living on trees for example, a tree kangaroo, orang-utan, chameleon and the like. These animals live their lives wholly on trees. This balances down the ecosystem rather than it making it a big fuss. Animals and insects on the other hand help in the production of fruits and flowers in return and maintains the existence of the tree as well, through dispersal, and pollination.

In any case, humans should not be the reason to terminate this beautiful harmony. By cutting a tree down, you should always think you are wiping out the harmless animals’ home

A comparison between tree pruning and tree trimming

These are tree care practices which are carried out to ensure trees, shrubs, and hedges grow in an organized manner. Have you ever visited a place and seen rounded and oval shaped trees? A tree which looks very geometrical from the outside? Well, that is what trimming does to a tree. Trimming is not however limited to trees as opposed to pruning.

Main differences

  • Trimming is essential for your tree for it to grow in a way you want it to follow while pruning is done to enhance natural growth in a tree. Both practices help the plant in one way or the other.
  • Trimming is mostly on hedges and shrubs, but pruning is on big trees. It is hard to control the growth pattern in a large tree in comparison to a hedge.
  • Aesthetic reasons to enhance the beauty of an area are the reasons behind a trim, but pruning is done to maintain the natural beauty in a place.
  • Pruning requires large machines like a chainsaw while trimming requires light cutting tools which can be easily controlled to maintain the desired design.
  • Pruning requires the use of three cut system and above all the relief cut to get rid of the weight of the branch while trimming requires only the final cuts.
  • Trimming is systematically and carefully done when compared with pruning. More tools are used in a trimming operation rather than while pruning. For example, hand-held scissors are used to give a final trim to a tree.
  • Pruning exercise results to bigger wounds on a tree than a trimming exercise. Due to these, pruned trees take longer to heal and if done wrongly leads to infections and bad patches on the tree.
  • Pruning is mostly meant to enhance flowering and fruit growth while trimming is regularly intended to increase leaves growth and form cluttered crowns for comfortable shaping.
  • In pruning, dead branches and twigs are removed while in a trim the dead twigs are not necessarily removed since they can be used to maintain the geometric shape required in a tree or shrub.
  • Branch collar determines where to make the pruning cut, but trimming targets the protruding branches and twigs from the form taken by the tree since the trimming started.
  • In pruning branches which cross each other are removed, but in trimming branch, interlocking is encouraged to form a thick cover as possible.

Despite the main differences, these tree maintenance practices have some few similarities

  • They both help in pests and insect control which in turn reduces diseases and maintenance cost of the landscape.
  • They share the majority of the tools like the bow saws, loppers, the secateurs, and handheld pruning scissors.
  • They enhance the proper growth of the plant.

Confused on whether to do pruning or trimming, this is the simple principle to follow.

If there is in any way you need to control the growth design of the tree or shrub, then you need to do both with a more emphasis on trimming aspects.

If you want the tree to take a more natural growth pattern, then you need to do both with more emphasis on pruning principles.

Check out this video or visit this website to learn how to prune a tree: http://www.wikihow.com/Prune-a-Tree