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The Secret language of trees-Camile Deferenne and Suzanne Simard
The Secret language of trees-Camile Deferenne and Suzanne Simard
Sajan Bajgain
July 02, 2019
The Secret language of trees-Camile Deferenne and Suzanne Simard
"There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend."
-Bob Ross
Most of the forest lives in the shadow of the giants that make up the highest conopy. These are the oldest trees,with hundreds of children and thousands of grandchildren.
They check in with their neighbors,sharing food, supplies,and wisdom gained over their long lives.They do this rooted in place, unable to speak,reach out,or move,or reach around.The secret of their lies under the forest floor,where the vast root systems support the towering trunks above.partnering with these roots are symbiotic fungi called mycorrhizae.These fungi have countless branching,thread-like hyphae that together make up the mycelium.The mycelium spreads across a much larger area than the tree root system and connects the roots of different trees together.These connections form mycorrhizal networks.Through mycorrhizal networks,fungi can pass resources and signaling molecules between trees.
We know the oldest trees have the largest mycorrhizal networks with the most connections to other trees,but these connections are incredibly complicated to trace.That's because there are about a hundred species of mycorrhizal fungi- and an individual tree might be colonized by dozens of different fungal organisms,each of which connects to a unique set of other trees,
which in turn each have their own unique set of fungal associations.
To get a sense how substance flow through this network,let's zoom in on sugars,as they travel from mature tree to a neighboring seedling.Sugar's journey starts high above the ground,in the leaves of the tallest trees above the canopy.The leaves use the ample sunlight up there to create sugars through photosynthesis .This essential fuel then travels through the tree to the base of the trunk in the thick sap.From there,sugar flows down to the roots.
Mycorrhizal fungi encounter the tip of the roots and either surround or penetrate the outer root cells,depending on the type of the fungi.Fungi cannot produce sugars,though they need them for fuel just like tree do.
They can however,collect nutrients from the soil much more efficiently than tree roots and pass these nutrients into the trr roots.
In general,substances flow from where they are more abundant to where they are less abundant or from source to sink.That means the sugar flows from the roots into the fungal hyphae.Once the sugar enters the fungus,they travel along the hyphae through pores between cells or through special hollow transporter hyphae. The fungus absorbs some of the sugars,but some travels on and enters the roots of neighboring tree,a seedling that grows in the shade and has less opportunity to photosynthesize sugars.But why fungus transport resources from tree to tree.This is one of the mysteries of the mycorrhizal networks.It makes sense for fungus to exchange soil nutrients and sugar with a tree both parties benefit.
The fungus likely benefits in less obvious ways from being part of a network between trees,but the exact ways are not totally clear.Maybe the fungus benefits from having connections with as many trees as possible,and maximizes its connections by shuttling molecules between trees.Or maybe plants reduce their contributions to fungi if the fungi don't facilitate exchanges between trees.Whatever the reasons,these fungi pass an incredible amount of information between trees.Through the mycorrhizae,trees can tell where nutrients or signaling molecules are coming from their own species or not.They can even tell when information is coming from a close relative like a sibling or parent.Trees can also share information about events like drought or insects attacks through their fungal networks,causing their neighbors to increase production of protective enzymes in anticipation of threats.The forest's health relies on these intricate communications and exchanges.With everything so deeply interconnected what impacts one species bound to impact others.
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