This may sound absurd, but read on to learn about the Wood Wide Web.
Monotropastrum humile – an example of a myco-heterotrophic plant that gains all of its energy through mycorrhizal networks. (Azuma, 2006)
Hows trees secretly talk to each other (BBC News, 2018)
Dear Patient Reader,
Nicknamed the “wood wide web”, the mycorrhizal network is a symbiotic, underground network of mycelium, fungi, and root systems that are closely connected to each other. As a subterranean social network (Marshall, 2019), the mycorrhizal network shares nutrients and information. Following the source-sink model, it shuttles sugars and excess carbon dioxide to the seedlings of the understory. Through the network, older trees send distress signals about drought or insect attacks, causing their neighbours to increase the production of protective enzymes (TED-Ed, 2019). All of this, while rooted to the ground.
A forest is an interconnected space with a hierarchy. What are known as hub or mother trees form a lifeline to young saplings in shaded parts of the understory. Though not necessarily female, mother trees act as stabilising agents, helping to regulate the cooler, damper microclimate of the forest floor that smaller trees prefer. Bigger trees share resources and form alliances with other tree species going against the laws of natural selection (Grant, 2018). But a forest is not a battleground for the survival of the fittest. Though sabotaging their rivals for more growing space and resources does exist, it isn’t so much about competition, but cooperation.
Ecologist, Suzanne Simard: “When mother trees are injured or dying, they send messages of wisdom to the next generation of seedlings” (Simard, 2016). By using isotope tracing, her and her team traced carbon moving down the mother tree into the mycorrhizal network and into her neighbouring seedlings. And by doing this, and by sharing their nutrients and knowledge, increasing the resilience of their entire community. Trees do talk.
With a substantial body of scientific evidence backing these claims, other researchers do not back the theory. Stating that “individual roots and fungal filaments are genetically programmed by natural selection to do their job automatically” (Grant, 2018). That they solve problems using hormone control which evolved through natural selection. But I would like to think, and agree that natural selection is much more than that.
Below our feet as we walk through a forest is an astounding amount of communication. Mushrooms are the reproductive organs (Simard, 2016) of the mycorrhizal network. They are a sign of life, that of a healthy, well-functioning underground system. It is humbling to know that there is so much interaction between other living organisms, and not just between humans. Which contributes to making the old myth of the wise, old talking tree seem more real.
Which is your favourite forest? Mine is the unsolved mystery of the Crooked Forest in Poland.
Crooked Forest, Gryfino, West Pomerania, Poland (Rzuwig, 2012)
Learn more
Link | https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48257315
Link | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/
Bibliography
Grant, R. (2018, March). Do Trees Talk to Each Other? Retrieved from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/
Marshall, C. (2019, May 15). Wood wide web: Trees' social networks are mapped. Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48257315
Simard, S. (2016, August 30). How trees talk to each other. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2yBgIAxYs
TED-Ed. (2019, July 1). The secret language of trees - Camille Defrenne and Suzanne Simard. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4m9SefyRjg
Video
BBC News. (2018, June 28). How trees secretly talk to each other. Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-44643177
Image Source
Azuma, D. (2006, May 20). File:Monotropastrum humile.jpg. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monotropastrum_humile.jpg
Rzuwig. (2012, May 12). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Krzywy_Las_-_Nowe_Czarnowo_2.JPG. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Krzywy_Las_-_Nowe_Czarnowo_2.JPG
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