Podcast #57

Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. I am so excited to talk with you today about something that absolutely blew my mind when I first learned about it, and I think it is going to change the way you look at forests forever. We are diving into the secret language of trees, and trust me, this is way more fascinating than it sounds.

So picture this. You are walking through a forest, right? You see trees standing there, silent, still, just doing their tree thing. But what if I told you that beneath your feet, there is this incredible network of communication happening? What if I told you that trees are actually talking to each other, sharing resources, warning each other about dangers, and even taking care of their young? Yeah, I know it sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, but this is real science, and it is absolutely incredible.

This whole discovery really started gaining mainstream attention thanks to a scientist named Suzanne Simard. She is a professor of forest ecology, and her research has fundamentally changed how we understand forests. Back in the nineteen nineties, she started noticing something weird. She was studying forests in British Columbia, and she realized that trees were not just individual organisms competing with each other for resources. Instead, they were connected, cooperating, and actually helping each other survive.

The key to all of this is something called the mycorrhizal network. Now, I know that is a mouthful, so let me break it down. Mycorrhizal fungi are these tiny organisms that live in the soil, and they form these symbiotic relationships with tree roots. The fungi attach to the roots and extend out into the soil like this massive underground web. And here is where it gets cool. These fungal networks connect different trees together, sometimes trees of the same species, sometimes completely different species. Scientists have started calling this network the wood wide web, which I think is just brilliant.

So how does this actually work? Well, trees produce sugars through photosynthesis, right? They take sunlight and carbon dioxide and create food for themselves. But here is the thing, they do not keep all of it. Through these fungal networks, trees can actually transfer sugars and nutrients to other trees. A big, healthy tree with lots of access to sunlight might share its excess sugars with a smaller tree that is struggling in the shade. In return, the fungi get some of those sugars too, so everybody wins.

But it gets even more interesting. These networks are not just about sharing food. Trees use them to send warning signals too. If a tree gets attacked by insects, it can send chemical signals through the network to warn neighboring trees. Those trees can then start producing defensive chemicals to protect themselves before the insects even reach them. It is like an early warning system. Imagine if you could tell your neighbor that burglars were in the area before they even got to your street. That is essentially what trees are doing.

And the complexity of these networks is just staggering. In a single forest, there can be hundreds of miles of these fungal connections. A single tree might be connected to dozens of other trees. Some trees act as hubs, kind of like major airports in a flight network. These are usually the oldest, largest trees, and they have the most connections. Suzanne Simard calls them mother trees, and they play this crucial role in the forest ecosystem.

These mother trees are not just connected to more trees, they actually seem to recognize and favor their own offspring. Yeah, you heard that right. Trees can recognize their own kids. When a mother tree is connected to her own seedlings through the fungal network, she sends them more nutrients than she sends to unrelated seedlings. She is literally giving her children a better chance at survival. If that does not make you see trees differently, I do not know what will.

Now, you might be wondering, how do scientists even figure this stuff out? I mean, it is not like you can just watch trees talking to each other. Well, researchers use some pretty clever techniques. One method involves using radioactive or fluorescent tracers. They will inject a tree with a traceable substance and then see where it shows up. And sure enough, it shows up in other trees connected through the network. They have also done experiments where they stress one tree and then measure the chemical responses in nearby trees. The results consistently show that trees are communicating and sharing resources.

What really gets me about this is how it changes our entire understanding of forests. For so long, we thought about nature in terms of competition. Survival of the fittest, every organism for itself, that kind of thing. And sure, competition exists, but cooperation is just as important, maybe even more so. These trees are not just tolerating each other, they are actively helping each other survive. The forest is not a collection of individuals, it is more like a superorganism, a community where the health of one member affects the health of the whole.

This has huge implications for how we manage forests too. Traditional forestry often focuses on removing old trees because they are not growing as fast and planting new ones for timber. But if those old trees are the mother trees, the hubs of the network, removing them could collapse the entire communication system. It would be like removing all the experienced people from a community and expecting it to function just as well. Those young trees lose their support system, their source of wisdom if you will, and the whole forest becomes less resilient.

Some researchers are now finding that forests with intact mycorrhizal networks are better able to withstand drought, disease, and even climate change. When trees can share resources and information, they are more adaptable. A tree struggling with drought might get help from a tree near a water source. A tree fighting off a disease might warn others to boost their immune systems. The network makes the whole forest stronger.

And here is something else that fascinates me. Different species of trees can connect through these networks too. You might have a Douglas fir connected to a birch tree, sharing resources back and forth. In some cases, these different species actually help each other in complementary ways. Birch trees, for example, leaf out earlier in the spring and can photosynthesize before the firs have fully woken up. So the birch might share resources with the fir in spring, and then later in the year when the fir is more productive, it returns the favor. It is like a mutual aid society underground.

Now, I want to be clear about something. When we talk about trees communicating and helping each other, we are not saying trees are conscious in the way humans are. They do not have brains or nervous systems like we do. But they do respond to their environment in sophisticated ways, and these responses benefit not just the individual tree but the whole community. Whether you want to call that intelligence or just complex biological processes, the result is the same. Trees are doing something remarkable.

This research has sparked a lot of debate in the scientific community, which is healthy. Some scientists think we are anthropomorphizing trees too much, projecting human qualities onto them. Others argue that we have been underestimating the complexity of plant life for too long. Personally, I think the evidence is pretty compelling. We might not understand all the mechanisms yet, but it is clear that something extraordinary is happening beneath our feet.

So what can we do with this knowledge? Well, for one, it should make us think differently about conservation. Protecting forests is not just about saving individual trees, it is about preserving these complex networks. When we clear cut a forest, we are not just removing trees, we are destroying communication systems that took decades or even centuries to develop. Even if we replant, it takes a long time for those networks to reestablish themselves.

On a personal level, I think this knowledge can change how we relate to nature. Next time you are in a forest, take a moment to think about what is happening underground. Those trees are not just standing there, they are connected, communicating, sharing. There is this whole hidden world of cooperation and community that we usually walk right past without noticing.

It also makes me think about human communities. We often emphasize individual achievement and competition, but maybe we should be learning from the trees. Maybe we should be thinking more about how we are all connected, how helping others ultimately helps ourselves, how the strength of our community determines our individual resilience. Trees figured this out millions of years ago. Maybe it is time we caught up.

Before we wrap up, I want to leave you with this thought. The more we learn about nature, the more we realize how much we still do not know. For centuries, we walked through forests thinking we understood them, and then someone looked a little closer and discovered this entire hidden world. It makes you wonder what else we are missing, what other secrets are hiding in plain sight.

So the next time you see a tree, give it a little nod of respect. It is part of something much bigger than itself, connected to a community, sharing resources, looking out for its neighbors and its offspring. In a way, trees might just be better at this whole community thing than we are.

Thanks so much for listening today. I hope this has given you a new appreciation for forests and the incredible things happening beneath the surface. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone who loves nature or science or just interesting ideas. Until next time, keep looking closer at the world around you. There is always something amazing to discover.