It would possibly be quite a surprise to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with others and pass on their legacy to the next generation. Yes, in a video created by Suzanne Simard, a professor at UBC (University of British Columbia), she explains how trees are much more complex than we might have come to think.
Although Charles Darwin assumed that trees are organisms simply individuals competing for survival as they try to climb higher, while Simard show how wrong i was. In fact, the opposite is true, as trees survive through mutual cooperation, passing on essential nutrients depends on who needs them.
Nitrogen and carbon are shared through a network of fungi ensuring that all trees in the forest ecosystem give and receive the proper amount to keep everyone healthy. This invisible network works in a similar way to what the neural interconnections in our brain do, so when the tree is destroyed it has consequences for the whole environment.
Simard also speaks of "mother trees", usually as the older organisms on which other trees depend. These same ones that disappear nourish the next generation with important minerals. When mother trees are cut down without the knowledge of their importance as a vital part of complex structures, the chances for an entire forest to survive are being reduced.
«We didn't realize thisSimard says sadly. «Trees that die move resources to young people before they disappearBut we never gave this way of looking at things a chance«. If we could introduce this kind of crucial knowledge into the forestry industry, it could make a breakthrough and difference for efforts to conserve these types of habitats.