Do Trees Communicate with Each Other?

Trees are connected to other trees around them by a network of fungi underground called a mycorrhizal fungal network. Chemicals are sent from tree to tree through the fungus, in a kind of communication that can take hours to detect and centuries for humans to even notice. If this were only a transfer of chemicals, we wouldn’t call it communication, but new research led by Dr. Suzanne Simard of the University of British Columbia shows that trees send different chemical messages to each other depending on conditions. For example, when researchers shaded one tree, a nearby tree of a different species began sharing nutrients with it. But trees prefer to share with their close kin.   

"If you're a mother and you have children, you recognise your children and you treat them in certain ways. We're finding that trees will do the same thing. They'll adjust their competitive behaviour to make room for their own kin and they send those signals through mycorrhizal networks," says Simard.

"We found that the biggest oldest trees had more connections to other trees than smaller trees. It stands to reason because they have more root systems," she says.

"So when a seedling establishes on the forest floor, if it's near one of these mother trees it just links into that network and accesses that huge resource network."

Read more about this fascinating research on tree communication at ABC Science. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: ŠJů)


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It's an early gyroscope for boats. The little doodad in the middle is a level. If the bubble is on the right, everybody lean right. If the bubble is on the left, everybody lean left.

I Heart Science, Black, XL
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It's the only piece left after the famous burning of the libraries in Alexandria. It's a shelf bracket that was in a maintenance man's hand as he ran out of the building.

I Heart Science, Black, XL
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It's a caliper used in Roman times as they were practicing their famous shield-to-shield phalanx formation. The officers would measure the distance between each head using this tool.

I Heart Science, Black, XL
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It's a section of track from an old Hot Wheels Monorail set. Mattel quickly discontinued that product line as kids never really grasped the value of mass transit.

et tailwhip,xl
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It was a tool used to measure the "Angle of the Dangle". But it was rendered obsolete when it was discovered that the "Motion of the Ocean" was a more important unit of measure.

Dick and Bruce, Silver, 2XL
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Its a boomerang for an OCD Australian, or anyone else that uses a boomerang and has OCD, because even their throws have to be perfect and level.

When Worlds Collide, L
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The first Hotwheels ramp released in 1895. It includes a futuristic hovering horseless carriage from the year 2000. It was not popular upon release because it was too ahead of it's time.

Uncle Venkman, L
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This is a quality of life graphing instrument. One places the bubble at the top indicating ones current time. Then the bubble is released and its final location determines if ones quality of life increases or decreases over time.

Obey Gravity L
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This custom leveling unit is used by big bankers and other one-percenters to make certain they retain the advantage of an unlevel playing field.

[ Offworld Colonies, Black, XL ]
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Bear with me here. You know those ramps they have at the bowling alley for kids and others who can't heft a bowling ball? Well, same thing here, but for people who can't use a cue stick on a pool table.
Okay, it may not be all that funny but I could be on to something here....

et tailwhip,xl
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This is an old 1920s-era zoetrope type of device. When you look through the eyepiece and slide it along the track, you see a nice young flapper woman doing something just unthinkable. Geez, what was the world coming to?

et tailwhip,xl
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An early prototype of a future self propelled boomerang that ran on kinetic energy. Just vigorously run the slider on the track and then be amazed!

Another Castle, Navy xlg
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