Crown shyness: let our realms stay apart

Subject : Geography

Section: Physical geography

What is crown shyness?

Crown shyness or canopy disengagement, or inter-crown spacing is a feature observed in some tree species, in which the crowns of fully stocked trees do not touch each other, instead forming a canopy with channel-like gaps.
This is most prevalent among trees of the same species, but also occurs between trees of different species, including eucalyptus, pine, spiny hackberry (Celtis spinosa), amberoi and oak.
This phenomenon is most common in temperate deciduous forests.
There exist many hypotheses as to why crown shyness is an adaptive behavior, and research suggests that it might inhibit spread of leaf-eating insect larvae.

Probable cause:

This mutual shade avoidance could be a result of buds at the end of twigs being able to sense light from the neighboring tree and refusing to grow in that direction.
It may be an adaptive mechanism to reduce trees’ competition for sunlight, water, and nutrients or reduce the spread of disease.