What is a native tree?

A native species is understood as one that lives in a given area spontaneously and naturally. That is, it is part of the vegetation of a region, is known as its natural habitat, and is not the product of direct or indirect human intervention in the past or present.

The native tree interrelates with the living and inert beings that surround it, and with which it has evolved, allowing multiple and complex interactions that make the native forest an ecosystem with particular and unrepeatable characteristics of each area. These peculiarities are the whole set of attributes that give the native forest the capacity for its regulation and sustainability in the environment.

However, and without exception, all trees are important and fulfill irreplaceable ecological functions, native species have a great value within an ecosystem. The presence of native trees is the result of thousands of years of evolution and natural selection during which they have created multiple relationships with fauna and flora.

The links formed between flora and fauna are indispensable for the proper functioning of the ecosystem; their relationship contributes to water regulation, carbon dioxide capture, and oxygen production. Also, native trees are better adapted to local conditions, so they have high resistance to pests and diseases.

On the other hand, native trees are soil retainers that improve soil nutrients and reduce erosion of native areas, they are also a source of food and home to native fauna. The native tree not only articulates to the ecological and eco-systemic function, but it also favors the man in multiple community services and provisioning of raw material for activities of exploitation of the resources of the environment.

Among the benefits that native trees provide to humans is their use as a source of wood, fuel (firewood and charcoal), and as a source of a wide range of non-timber products, such as fruits, seeds, and edible roots, fodder for farm animals, fibers and products for making handicrafts, roofing or preserving leaves, serving food, and as a source of natural medicines, among others.

Likewise, as an urban tree, it fulfills important environmental functions, since it contributes to the recovery and multiplication of fauna such as birds, small mammals such as squirrels and opossums, and useful insects such as butterflies and bees. They help to mitigate the visual and auditory contamination produced in large cities.

Native trees provide shade and moderate temperature changes.

They offer a pleasant view due to the diversity of shapes, colors, sizes, flowering, and fruiting that embellish the landscape.

They are also spaces for passive recreation, which contributes to the reduction of stress, thus positively influencing people's health.

Finally, native trees are cultural references, which is why their names are found in many musical pieces, populations, localities, and neighborhoods; they also evoke customs, traditions, habits, and spiritual rites. Although the veneration of the native tree as a sacred entity has declined in modern times, the current interest in environmental recovery and conservation has made it possible to recover its admiration and appreciation. The greatest importance of the native tree lies in its ecological values, its articulation of the eco-systemic functions, and its symbolic, folkloric, and cultural meanings.