Wood Wide Web

 Science behind the talking trees.

Until now very few people have understood that apart from animals other living things can also communicate. Communication is not about language neither about ability to speak. Communication is a way to spread messages, it has many forms, and is used by every living species on earth in different ways. But now the debate is whether plants really communicate? Do they have a language of their own? Do they communicate just within the plant species or with other animals too?

The Talking Tree

Trees were always known for their ability to produce food, timber, and other beneficiary products for human uses. We always study them in the category of living things but treat them as non living. It is when we started studying about what exactly lying below was a huge secret of underworlds of trees. Hidden beneath the soil there is a labyrinth of millions of fungal connections within the roots. We call this network a wood-wide web.

Earlier we focused on the process of photosynthesis, transportation of food and water within plants, transfer of energy, production of fruits, and one most famous question that led to the discovery of Gravity!!! If they have no nervous system, is it possible for them to communicate. As odd it sounds, plants do communicate.

“The connections are made by the filaments of fungi that grow in and around plant roots and produce many of the forest mushrooms we know and love. They bond trees so intimately that the more you learn about them, the more it is a struggle to view any tree as an individual”.

The Science behind the talking trees:

Plants can communicate in two ways: air and soil.

According to Prof Thomas Crowther

“Mycorrhizal fungi are those that form a symbiotic relationship with plants.There are two main groups of mycorrhizal fungi: arbuscular fungi (AM) that penetrate the host's roots, and ectomycorrhizal fungi (EM) which surround the tree's roots without penetrating them".

According to the research, 60% of trees are connected to EM fungi, but, as temperatures rise, these fungi - and their associated tree species - will decline and be replaced by AM fungi.”

In the case of the mycorrhizae, the fungi siphon off food from the trees, taking some of the carbon-rich sugar that they produce during photosynthesis. The plants, in turn, obtain nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that the fungi have acquired from the soil, by means of enzymes that the trees do not possess…

image from google

When a tomato plant responds to blight by activating disease-fighting genes and enzymes, signaling molecules produced by its immune system can travel to a healthy plant and prompt it to turn on its immune system, too. These advance warnings increase the plant's chance of survival.Earlier these fungal associations were known to make nutrition from soil and roots but now it is paying back by transmitting signals.

The story of communication does not just end here, plants can send chemical signals through air, which also make them capable of communicating with insects.

When plants are attacked by invaders, or get damaged they release volatile chemical signals which can be picked up by neighboring plants of the same species, but this is not it….plants can eavesdrop too. The chemical signals released during attack can also be picked up by neighboring plants but of different species, once the chemical signals are picked up by other plants they start to adjust their own internal chemistry. 

Plants can talk to insects too. When attacked by pests they release a chemical signal showing presence of prey for predatory insects. For example when a maize plant is attacked by army-worms  they release clouds of signals attracting wasps to lay eggs in/on the caterpillars body. Here the wasp eggs hatch inside the army-worm caterpillar and complete their life cycle inside the caterpillar body.

Ants, microbes, moths, even hummingbirds and tortoises all detect and react to these blasts.

Now if you take a clear look at a plant you will know how active communicators they are. They send, receive and respond to signals without even uttering a single word. A living being with no nervous system, no brain and mouth can say a lot.

for those who are interested to know more  I am suggesting few links for them which can help for a detailed study of wood wide web.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-22462855#:~:text=Plants%20can%20communicate%20the%20onset,of%20fungi%2C%20researchers%20have%20found.&text=But%20below%20ground%2C%20most%20land,fungi%20also%20aid%20in%20communication.

 https://www.wired.com/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/

⭐ This blog is inspired by many studies and researches done on plant communication. After a complete study and understanding only this blog has been created in simple form. Think before cutting a tree...May be it asking you to save him.