system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do trees have such long life spans compared to other wild life?
gpt
Their evolutionary niche is in being large and durable. They're the biggest things in the forest, so they get to hog all the sunlight they want. It takes a long time for trees to grow to be so big and tough, so they need to make use of it by living long enough to produce tons of seeds.

Trees are most vulnerable as saplings. If they don't get eaten or trampled when they're young, they don't have much to worry about for a long time. A strong, healthy tree is quite tough to take down by anything found in nature. A long life span allows the tree to produce many seeds and maximize its chances at reproduction.

Insects are on the other end of the spectrum. They're small, not terribly durable, and are often food for tons of other animals. Insects also tend to have quite short lives, but that's fine since their strategy is to reproduce like crazy and survive through sheer numbers. It doesn't matter if a million ants die if there are billions more ready to replace them.