Planting a jungle

The Basis of Reforestation

Delicious for some, vital for others…

Be it by monkeys eating them or simply by rotting, fruits are an essential part of the seed distribution in the jungle.

What do you need for reforestation?

The answer is seeds. But where do you get them?

At Osa Conservation, an environmental protection NGO in Costa Rica, the reforestation team collects the necessary seeds in the jungle itself. They combine monitoring expeditions with collection hikes.

Together with José (photo below) and Titi, I had the chance of seeing how they inspect the local woods, keeping tabs on which tree species need further support and which already reached an acceptable level. On the hikes, the two also look for trees that could be useful for Osa Conservation's research projects. Endangered ones and those which could give us more insights in the dynamic ecosystem of tropical rainforests.

A further inspection

Since there are no seasons in the jungle, you can find two different trees in two different states of their cycle sitting right next to each other. Naturally, that leads to many leafs being thrown off the trees all the time.

Considering the remaining leafs are located at a height of 40m or taller, inspecting the dead leafs at the ground can be extremely helpful to identify the tree species.

But why would you need to identify the trees that surround you in the jungle?

A dynamic ecosystem

In this picture you can see the so-called Suicide Tree. It is so called because it produces fruits only once in its life. As soon as the tree drops them, it dies and will eventually fall down.

The growth and tipping over of jungle giants creates an environment of dense forests, more open grooves and growing intermediate zones. Thus, smaller plants in these gaps have a greater chance of gaining altitude.

'Cause let me tell you one thing, it's really dark in the full-grown jungle. So it's no wonder that smaller trees have fewer opportunities there.

My camera didn't like the darkness either.

Because of this dynamic growth cylce and influence on it's surrounding area, the suicide-tree is of special interest to conservationists. When José and Titi found it on our expedition, the two already started planning how they could monitor the tree in the following weeks.