How could I create a believable Tree World, in which the Trees would float in the oceans, they would grow on surface of water, horizontally

Question

This world is all water, and I want the trees to be the only thing that represents land. The trees are horizontally positioned, and start from a large self sufficient floating seed pod, much like a coconut would. They would lengthen faster than they would widen, during the growth process.

Naturally the size of these are twenty thousands of times bigger than the widths of the giants of earth. The roots would glean nutrients from the water, and have some kind of mechanism for trapping the fish for food, thus categorizing the tree as carnivorous. The structure is questionable as far as shape and anatomy of its trunk, limbs, and bark. All those things would have to be shaped so that the the tree is habitable for humans.

What could I improve to make this more believable, or is it believable at all?

Answer 1

The concept you have in mind is plenty believable for fiction but there are a few changes I think would be necessary.

These aren't going to be trees. Tree is a specific name for a specific type of plant.

Trees require soil and can't handle salt water (in most situations). They are also generally hard and inflexible which would be detrimental if they exist in a medium that is constantly in motion, meaning the ocean.

So in short the type of plant you describe could likely exist but it would definitely not be a tree. It would likely be some sort of super seaweed. You would also probably need to consider allowing your super seaweed to take root in shallow waters allowing for more nutrients and larger growth. The size you are looking for will be tough to get to if they are completely free floating all the time.

It may not be relevant to your story but in your head you should also probably consider that they had to have evolved the ability to trap and consume fish if you want to go that route meaning that being able to take root or something similar would have been needed earlier in the evolutionary history of the organism.

Also...humans wouldn't evolve as humans on this world so keep that in mind...either they are transplants or humanoid but not quite human.

Answer 2

I would consider the idea it is a single tree that spans the entire planet, akin to a Banyan. To me this solves many problems, and potential adds interest.

Answer 3

A friend and I kinda worked through this once. You have floating plants and kelp forming clumps, basically the plants are a series of gas-bags with leaves and root. there are already floating plants but for the ocean you will need greater buoyancy hence the gasbags. picture the sargasso sea on steroids.

other types of plants colonize these mats adding larger plants, more gas bags, deeper roots. the roots start to collect debris and will house lots of animals, the roots of some plants may even be designed to tangle and hold animals for supplemental nutrients.you might have filter feeding animals also colonizign them and each dead plant is going to add more "soil" to the islands. eventually as the mats get large enough they begin to support mangrove like trees with light balsa like wood and maybe their own wood floats or coconut like growths.there trees would favor being wide and spread out instead of tall for stability. the more animals and plants colonize the mats the more debris is added when they die encouraging bigger plants. insects, crabs, maybe amphibians, and millions of fish would colonize such things.

the plants are held together by intertwining rooks and tendrils, and "islands" may be torn apart during storms if they get too big, and would occasionally sink. they would naturally be pushed towards the ocean gyri so soon you would have many "islands" close together or even joining.

on a water world these might very well have evolved from sargassum kelp. Humans would need to build platforms to live on, but would have to be careful cover too much and too many plants might die causing the whole thing to sink.

trees might drop floating twisty nuts that get tangled in in mats where they sprout after several years, giving the mats time to build up around them. the trees roots would spread wide to help hold the mat together and to get their nuts to the edge where they need to be.

Answer 4

This idea will only work so far. Since the world is without land, there are no land masses to interrupt the development of storms, and they have an essentially unlimited length of wave development (called fetch). As a result, storm-driven waves will become enormous. When these waves encounter your "trees", unless the organism can flex freely it will break. This is similar to the maximum (about 300 feet or so) length of wooden ships. Beyond that length, wooden ships tend to break. And, since seasoned wood is stronger than green wood, you should assume that your "trees" are weaker than a wooden ship would be.

So in order to survive, the "trees" must consist of smallish solid parts interconnected by very strong, flexible tendrils, and there must be some built-in mechanism to prevent the solid parts from fusing.

Answer 5

This is just conjecture...

It would seem that this concept would emphasis a simple ecosystem. I could see some symbiotic plants growing into the bark, and even pockets of dirt/dust (if nothing else than from decay). Highly probable that there would be diverse fungi, even to the point of having colorful seasonal "wildflower" species. The wind would be especially useful in spreading the spores so that the fungi can repopulate in "new" areas.

Vast insect swarms would travel in migration patterns following the supply of food. The more destructive swarms would nearly strip everything except the great tree. Other insects would be used for pollination and transferring seeds of plants that are unable to benefit from the wind.

Many of the larger and more intelligent animals in the branches would be of a flying/gliding type. It could be a feasible environment for creatures that look like fairies. There would also be grasping animals such as snakes, who are especially dangerous as they blend in with the branches. Finally there would also be primarily water dwellers who live entirely in or near the water.

Any human-like life would be warriors/hunters/gatherers as the environment does not allow farming, mining, etc.