Trees aren’t just individual beings—they’re actually part of a deeply connected underground network! Recent discoveries have revealed an entire hidden WORLD beneath our feet, where trees have systems for communicating, supporting, and even nurturing one another!
Let’s dive into this inspiring discovery together!
The Discovery That Changed Everything: Enter the Mother Tree
Suzanne Simard, a scientist from British Columbia, made a discovery that would shake the very roots of how we understand ecosystems. While researching how trees recover from logging, she found something astonishing: older, central trees were communicating with younger trees through underground fungal networks.
These central trees, which she called “Mother Trees,” were not just passively coexisting—they were actively nurturing the younger ones.
- Mother Trees send nutrients, carbon, and water through mycorrhizal fungi to seedlings that are struggling in the shade.
- They recognize their own offspring and preferentially support them (yes, seriously).
- When dying, Mother Trees even send warning signals and final resources to their neighbors—like a will, passed down in the form of carbon.
It’s a wood-wide web, using fungi as the routers!
The Science of Tree Talk: How Trees Communicate
So, how do they “talk”? Through an underground mycorrhizal network—a vast, invisible web of fungal threads that link the roots of different plants and trees together.
Simard’s work centers around the mycorrhizal network—a vast, invisible web of fungal threads called mycelium that connects tree roots across entire forests. These fungi live in symbiosis with trees:
🔄 Trees provide the fungi with sugars made through photosynthesis.🔄 In return, the fungi extend the reach of the roots, helping trees access water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients.
But the fungi do even more—they carry messages and resources between trees, forming a kind of forest internet. Because of this, trees can tap into this network to warn each other of insect attacks or disease! Nearby trees receive this information and activate their own defenses, such as increasing bitter compounds in their leaves to deter insects.
Shared Resources: Trees Give to Each Other
They also share resources based on need—and this isn’t limited to trees of the same species, but even between different kinds of trees! In one study, it was found that during the summer, birch trees produced excess carbon through photosynthesis and shared it with nearby Douglas firs, who were under the shade of the birch trees and didn’t have access to as much sunlight. Then in the winter, when the birches had lost their leaves and stopped producing energy, the firs returned the favor—sending carbon back to them through the underground fungal network!
This isn’t just poetic—it’s proven. Simard’s experiments used radioactive carbon isotopes to trace the flow of resources. She watched one tree literally feed another through the forest floor.
And even the fungal partners benefit! Trading nutrients like phosphorus for the sugars trees produce from sunlight. Some researchers are now exploring how mycelium may have memory-like properties. Fungal networks appear to route resources differently based on past experiences. This suggests a primitive form of learning or adaptation in the fungal system itself.
Why This Changes Everything
This isn’t just tree-hugging science fiction. It’s revolutionizing forestry, conservation, and our spiritual relationship to nature.
🌳 It tells us we can’t clear-cut without consequences—when you take out Mother Trees, the whole forest suffers. Their large root systems are deeply connected to many other trees, making them essential to the health of the entire network.
🌳 It shows that monocultures don’t work—diversity is essential to forest health and resilience, even against forest fires. When they’re cut down, surrounding trees become more vulnerable to disease and death—a forest can grieve the loss of a Mother Tree.
🌳 It reminds us that nature thrives on connection, just like we do.
For indigenous peoples around the world, this isn’t new. Many cultures have long honored trees as beings with wisdom and community. What’s new is that Western science is finally catching up.
A Forest is a Family
At Kona Cloud Forest Sanctuary, you can feel this living network. When you breathe in the moist, mossy air, or sit beneath a canopy that has stood for centuries, you’re part of it. The forest is not just background—it’s a being.
The Mother Tree reminds us: healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in networks. In relationships. And in connection and support with one another.
To book a guided walking tour or other nature & mindfulness experience, check out our website!
