Hit by lightning is good for some tropical trees

In Panama’s dense forests, a tree species develops an abnormal survival strategy, which is hit by lightning. New research shows that the Dipteryx oleifera tree not only survives direct lightning strikes, but actually thrives, gaining a significant competitive advantage in crowded tropical ecosystems.

The study, published on March 26 in a new botanist, puts forward traditional ideas about the destructive power of lightning in the forest. Led by Evan Gora of the Kari Ecosystems Institute, the study provides the first concrete evidence that certain trees can benefit from lightning strikes.

“Seeing some trees hit by lightning, they’re good,” Gora recalled. His interest caught people’s attention in 2015 when his team encountered a 2-point tree, which survived.

This opportunity observation leads to systematic investigations. Over two to six years, Gora’s team tracked 93 lightning-like trees in the Barro Colorado Nature Monument in Panama, including nine Dipteryx specimens. The comparison of the results is obvious.

All nine dipteryx trees survived with minimal damage, while trees that directly hit other species suffered severe losses, with leaves nearly six times higher and mortality rates of 64% in two years. When lightning hits the Dipteryx tree, it kills an average of 9.2 adjacent trees when power passes through the interconnected vegetation.

Perhaps most interestingly, the lightning attack reduced parasitic vine infection on the two-winged trees by 78%. These vines (called Lianas) often compete with trees for light and nutrition. Their removal represents an important competitive advantage in tropical forests with limited resources.

The researchers used drone technology to create a 3D model, showing that the Dipteryx tree is usually about four meters taller than its neighbors. This height difference is probably due to the lightning killing of taller neighboring trees, which allows double specimens to undisputedly enter the sun, a valuable commodity on the forest ground.

“These data provide the first evidence that certain trees were hit by lightning,” the authors wrote in the paper. Or, as Gora said more clearly, “the second-type oleifera tree is better than nothing.”

Research shows that these trees may have evolved to attract lightning strikes. According to the team’s calculations, their unique height and unusually wide crowns are 68% more likely to be more likely than average trees. With lifespans that may exceed 1000 years, the estimated strike frequency is once every 56 years, and a single tree may survive multiple strikes in its lifetime. The researchers even recorded a tree that was knocked down twice in just five years.

This lightning tolerance provides significant reproductive advantages. According to scientists’ calculations, it could improve the species’ ability to produce offspring 14 times compared to expectations without such adaptation.

These implications go beyond the curiosity of merely scientific. As climate change increases in lightning frequency in many regions, species with tolerance to strength, such as Dipteryx oleifera, may gain further advantages. This could reshape forest composition, affecting biodiversity and carbon storage capacity.

The research team includes scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Florida Gulf Coast University, University of Alabama, Huntsville University and University of Louisville plans to study what specific traits allow these trees to survive lightning strikes and whether other species have such excellent capabilities.

As forests continue to face climate-related challenges, understanding these unexpected ecological relationships may be crucial for conservation efforts and tropical afforestation strategies. Sometimes it does seem like not killing you will make you stronger, especially if you are a Dipteryx tree in a lightning storm.