Getting hit by lightning is good for some tropical trees

Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies reveal lightning benefits some trees by killing off parasitic vines and opening up the canopy.

From Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies 27/03/25 (first released 26/03/25)

Getting zapped with millions of volts of electricity may not sound like a healthy activity, but for some trees, it is.

A new study, published in New Phytologist, reports that some tropical tree species are not only able to tolerate lightning strikes, but benefit from them.

The trees may have even evolved to act as lightning rods.

The research was led by Evan Gora, a forest ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

Gora studies how lightning impacts biodiversity and carbon storage in Panama’s tropical forests.

Lightning kills hundreds of millions of trees per year.

But in 2015, while working in Panama, Gora and his colleagues came across a Dipteryx oleifera tree that had survived a strike with little damage — even though the jolt had been strong enough to blast a parasitic vine out of its crown and kill more than a dozen neighboring trees.

“Seeing that there are trees that get struck by lightning and they’re fine was just mind-blowing,” Gora recalled.

Over time, the team encountered other Dipteryx oleifera trees thriving after getting hit, so they decided to take a closer look.

Scientists had previously suspected that some trees evolved to tolerate lightning, but evidence to back it up was lacking.

In 2022, Gora and colleagues demonstrated for the first time that trees differ in their ability to survive getting hit by lightning.

Their new paper, published Wednesday, is the first to show that trees can benefit from these electric jolts.

Using a unique lightning location system, the team tracked the outcomes of 93 trees that had been struck by lightning in Barro Colorado Nature Monument in central Panama.

For two to six years after the strike, the team measured tree survival rates, crown and trunk condition, number of parasitic vines or lianas, and neighboring tree mortality.

The study included nine directly struck Dipteryx oleifera trees, and compared them with 84 other trees that had been struck.

All nine Dipteryx trees survived direct lightning strikes with only minor damages.

In contrast, directly struck trees of other species were badly damaged, losing 5.7 times more leaves from their crowns, and 64% died within two years.

When each Dipteryx tree was zapped, an average of 9.2 neighboring trees were killed as the electricity traveled between adjoining vines and touching branches, or jumped across small gaps between trees.

Lightning strikes also reduced Dipteryx liana infestations by 78%, freeing trees from some of the pressure these parasitic vines have on light and nutrient availability.

These patterns also bore out across the broader population.

The team found that Dipteryx trees tend to have fewer lianas.

Analyzing trends in tree death over the past 40 years, the researchers found that the trees neighboring Dipteryx trees were 48% more apt to die than other trees in the forest, likely because of lightning.

Using drones, Gora and colleagues created 3D models of canopy height, which showed that Dipteryx trees tend to be about four meters taller than their nearest neighbors, likely because lightning killed their taller neighbors, giving them an advantage in competing for light and space.

“These data provide the first evidence that some trees benefit from being struck by lightning,” the authors write.

Or, as Gora puts it, “It’s better off for a Dipteryx oleifera tree to be struck than not.”

Because of all these benefits, Dipteryx oleifera trees may be specially adapted to attract lightning.

With their distinctive height and unusually wide crowns, they may be up to 68% more likely to get electrocuted than other trees with average height and crowns, according to the team’s calculations.

Estimates suggest individual Dipteryx oleifera trees are directly hit by lightning every 56 years, on average.

And since the trees can live for hundreds or possibly more than a thousand years, they are expected to survive these blasts many times throughout their lives.

During the study, one of the Dipteryx trees was struck twice in just five years.

The remarkable ability to survive lightning strikes and benefit from the removal of lianas and competitors gives Dipteryx trees a major advantage over other trees.

According to the scientists’ calculations, lightning tolerance boosts the species’ ability to produce offspring by 14 times.

Next, the team aims to investigate what electrical or structural traits allow these trees to survive lightning strikes.

They would also like to explore whether other species show lightning tolerance, to better understand how common this phenomenon is.

What is clear is that lightning plays an underappreciated role in tree competition.

And with lightning on the rise in many regions due to climate change, its influence may increase, potentially favoring lightning-tolerant species like Dipteryx oleifera.

Understanding lightning and its role in shaping forests may be important for predicting changes in biodiversity and carbon storage, and for informing tropical reforestation efforts.