Mycorrhizal network

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Revision as of 19:21, 28 December 2020 by DFischer (talk | contribs)
Mycorrhizal network.svg

In forests, trees' roots connect underground to each other with the facilitation of vast networks of fungi that facilitate mycorrhiza, or tree-fungi symbiosis. Trees use the networks to share nutrients and information with each other. The fungi benefit by taking some of the carbon-rich sugars the trees generate in photosynthesis. New York Times science journalist Ferris Jabr comments that the process displays an "interspecies selflessness of trees, however — a practice that verges on socialism."[1]

The existence of mycorrhizal networks confirms the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples according to the forest ecologist Sm’hayetsk Teresa Ryan, of Tsimshian heritage, "There are many aboriginal groups that will tell you stories about how all the species in the forests are connected, and many will talk about below-ground networks.”

Although trees recognize their kin and are especially cooperative with relatives, they also share with members of other species. In North America, tall birch trees send carbon to shaded fir trees in the summer, and fir trees send carbon to the birch trees in the winter. Biologist Suzane Simard remarks, “So it turns out the two species were interdependent, like yin and yang.”[2]

  1. Ferris Jabr, "The Social Life of Forests," New York Times, 2 December 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/02/magazine/tree-communication-mycorrhiza.html.
  2. Simard, S. (2016). How trees talk to each other. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other/transcript.