Game changers and change makers—Intelligent Trees


A dying tree

Weaver Hawkins’ trees seem to take on an other-worldly look. They are animated, highly colourful structures and they might remind us of undersea corals as much as trees.

Perhaps this is no accident: corals are communities of tiny animals and scientists now know that trees also live in complex communities.

Recent studies have revealed the extent to which trees are linked together underground through a ‘wood-wide web’ of fungal threads. They are known to share food, water and communicate via these networks.  They also communicate with trees of other species in ways scientists are continuing to discover.

In the first episode of the Intelligent Trees web-series, Dr. Suzanne Simard and her students share how Mothertrees can recognize their own kin over unrelated seedlings to help their species survive.