What the knowledge of how trees communicate means for forest conservation

But where does this impact originate, from the tree or trees nearest to the person enjoying the forest? From the undergrowth, the ground cover? From the soil, the forest air? As any forest enthusiast will know, a forest is more than a sum of adjacent parts. It can only be experienced — and even described — as an interconnected entity.

A forest is an intricately linked ecosystem, and Suzanne Simard, professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, goes one step further. She says forests represent an intelligence that is able to behave as though it’s a single organism.

Suzanne Simard discovers interactions in the forest

Growing up in British Columbia, Suzanne first learned about forests from her grandfather, who, as a horse logger, used to selectively cut cedar poles from the rainforest. His way of regarding the forest stood in stark contrast to the forestry she came in contact with during her undergraduate studies.

Suzanne returned to university to study how trees might share information below ground, and conducted experiments deep in the forest. “Twenty-five years ago, I grew 80 replicates of three species: paper birch, Douglas-fir and western red cedar. Then I put plastic bags over the trees and injected the bags with tracer isotope carbon dioxide gases,” she explains. “The evidence was clear, showing me that paper birch and Douglas-fir were in a lively two-way conversation.”

Suzanne knew she had found something big, something that would change the way we look at how trees interact in forests. Scientists had long discovered a symbiotic association between fungi and the roots of forest plants. Forest fungi interact with root cells, trading carbon for nutrients, and connecting the different individuals — and species — in the forest.

Fungi are the internet of the forest