Feed: Culture | The Guardian
Posted on: Monday, March 21, 2022 3:30 PM
Author: Suzanne Simard
Subject: The big idea: can forests teach us to live better?
| Community, family, connection … how trees could be the model for a new way of being When you walk in the forest, breathe in the fresh air and notice how vibrant you feel. The oxygen entering your lungs is produced by photosynthesis, where plants turn light into chemical energy, at the same time drawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The moisture cooling the air arises from transpiration by open leaves, which take up water from the soil via their roots. And the sweet scent that fills you with delight is a mix of volatile organic compounds that have evolved to attract pollinators and fend off herbivores. Now look deeply into the green, and notice that the trees are not alone. There are understory plants, mushrooms and birds. Trees live amid an orchestra of organisms. Whispering, gossiping, eavesdropping, all working together in symphonic harmony. Recent research shows that trees are in constant communication with one another through an underground biological neural network made of mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi grow on the tips of the tree roots, and provide them with nutrients and water in exchange for photosynthetic energy. These fungi link the trees – whether of the same or different species – in a vast mycelial lattice. Resources are traded back and forth through the fungal connections, a movable feast that keeps the community thriving. Some of the transmitted compounds act as stress or defence signals, serving to bolster immunity against invading pests, with other warning signals also floating from tree to tree through the air. |