yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

How Trees Secretly Talk to Each Other in the Forest | Decoder


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Ouch! What do you think you’re doing? The idea of talking trees has been capturing the human imagination for generations. Did you say something? My bark is worse than my bite.

Okay, so maybe they don’t talk to us, but it turns out, trees can “talk” to each other. The trees are speaking to each other. But that does beg the question: What do trees have to talk about? And can we learn to speak their language?

Underneath the soil, a vast and interconnected network of life links the trees through their root systems. But, they can’t talk to each other without help. The whole process starts with hub trees—the oldest and tallest trees in the forest. Hub trees have greater access to sunlight, and through the process of photosynthesis, end up producing more sugar than they actually need.

Underground, fungi need sugar to survive. Most of their bodies are made up of a mass of threads called “mycelium.” They grow within the root system of trees to absorb the excess sugar. In return, the mycelium provides the tree with the nutrients it needs from the soil. This symbiotic relationship is known as mycorrhiza, which stems from the Greek words for fungus and root.

These tree-fungi relationships connect the trees in the forest together, forming an underground communication network to exchange water and nutrients, to nurture their seedlings, and even send warning signals when under threat. So, how many trees are really talking to each other?

To get a better picture of these forest relationships, a team of researchers used DNA analysis to map a fungal network in a patch of Canadian forest. Remarkably, they found that one tree was connected to 47 other trees! Their models also showed that when hub trees were removed, it would cause more connections to be lost than if trees were simply removed randomly.

Studying these kinds of underground exchanges will play a vital role in creating stronger, more resilient forests for the future. So, even though we might not be able to “talk” to trees, at least we can still keep trying to understand their language. Who knows what they might say?

More Articles

View All
Vietnam's Ha Long Bay Is a Spectacular Garden of Islands | National Geographic
[Music] 1600 islands thick with greenery form a maze of channels in the azure waters of Ha Long Bay off northeastern Vietnam. For centuries, this spectacular seascape has inspired wonder. [Music] Although people have lived in this region for thousands of…
How Warren Buffett Finds Great Investment Ideas
You really want to have a database in your mind so that you can tell what kind of a business you’re looking at in general by looking at the figures. Uh, it’s far over right. We never look at any analyst reports. I mean, I don’t think I’ve, you know, if I …
Warren Buffett: How the Average Person Can Become a Millionaire
So let’s not kid ourselves. The reason why we spend so much time learning about investing is to make money. Whether you’re saving up for a house or building wealth for retirement, we all have our own financial goals. In this video, Warren Buffett is going…
Homeroom with Sal & Martha S. Jones - 19th Amendment and Women's Voting Rights
Hi everyone, welcome to today’s homeroom. Uh, I’m very excited about the conversation we are about to have. I will start with my standard reminder, reminding everyone that Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization. We can only exist through philanthro…
How a Shark's Vision Works | When Sharks Attack
Elvin is part of a series of events puzzling investigators: nine shark attacks along the southeast Florida coast in 2017, more than double the average. With leads coming up short, some local authorities come up with their own theories for the spike. Vero …
One of the Most Important Decisions You'll Make (Hint: It's About Love)
Who do we give our love to and who do we receive love from? I think it’s a huge decision, the most, maybe the most important one, one of the most important decisions. I use the word love. Um, I think different people mean different things by love, so I’m …