Can Plants Survive Without Treees ?

Question

Help Please

Answer 1

Most plants can survive without trees--but trees are plants? Your question is not clear. Some plants need shade and do well with trees.

Do you mean if all the trees were gone would the other plants die? Many of them would (like in the tropical rain forset) but most would go on (like in the great plains).

Answer 2

Fungi are a cornerstone of woodland ecosystems ytet they are often overlooked, as so much fungal activity carries on unseen beneath the surface of the forest floor. Even the more conspicuous fruiting bodies, mushrooms and toadstools, represent only a tiny glimpse of the main body of the fungus. There is a vast network called the mycelium made up of fungal threads (hyphae) carrying out their essential work in wood and soil. Yet the lives of plants, those more obvious members of the woodland community are intimately bound up with and dependent on those of fungi.

Mycorrhizal partnerships are symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, relationships between plants and fungi which take place around the plant's roots. While there are many species of fungus which do not form these partnerships the vast majority of land plants have mycorrhizas (from the Greek mykes: fungus and rhiza: root), and many plants could not survive without them. Fossil records show that roots evolved alongside fungal partners and that fungi may have been crucial in helping plants evolve to colonise the land hundreds of millions of years ago.

Broadly speaking there are two main kinds of mycorrhiza: Arbuscular mycorrhizas penetrate the cells of their host's roots, and most plants develop this type. Ectomycorrhizas surround the roots without penetrating them. Trees may form either type, and some form both. In each case there is cell-to-cell contact between the plant and the fungus allowing nutrient transfer to take place. Benefits to the fungal partner are the fungus within a mycorrhiza receives sugars from its plant host. Since fungi do not photosynthesise (produce their own energy from the sun) and most plants do, the plant becomes a vital source of energy for the fungus. Certain mycorrhizas will actually live inside the plant's root so the plant can also help isolate them from competitors.
Benefits to the plant are that fungi transfer essential minerals such as nitrogen and phosphorus from decaying organic matter to the plant. They are able to use chemicals (enzymes) to break down substances which plants cannot use unaided such as cellulose, thus making more nutrients available to the plant. The countless hyphae extending from the plant's roots also increase the overall area of nutrient and water uptake. These fungal threads can be very fine, branching between soil particles, and even exploring the shells of dead insects!

Some mycorrhizas may speed plant growth, stimulate fine root development and lengthen the life of the roots. They can also protect plants from drought, predators (such as nematode worms), and pathogens (micro-organisms that cause disease). Furthermore, in areas polluted by toxic heavy metals, fungi can buffer their plant partners against harm. A diversity of fungi is valuable as different fungi will specialise in the various functions so one species may be good at taking up particular nutrients while another will be better at producing enzymes.

Go to these links: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n1_v181/ai_6791295
http://www.backyardnature.net/f/mycorhza.htm

Answer 3

Where are you heading with this? Depends on the plants and their relationship with the tree and soil. Still look at what happens with a forest fire. When the trees are lost, the area reverts forbs and grasses. Slowly the woody plants; shrubs and trees return.

In the jungle we'd see grasses, forbs, vines but gradually the trees would return.

Answer 4

Plants cross pollinate with other plants. Trees are only for shade.