The Wood-Wide Web

The notion that trees, plants, fungi and microbes are so thoroughly interconnected within a forest that the entire system is regarded as a superorganism should grab the attention of a wide audience, from the scientist to the poet. The fact is scientists have confirmed, through isotope tracing, that trees do indeed share carbon by means of subterranean collections of fungal threads, called mycorrhizal networks. 

Hard science then opens the way for some to behold old-growth forests as vast, ancient and intricate societies in which there is an ongoing process of negotiation, reciprocity, and perhaps even selflessness. These fungal threads are likewise seen to permeate prairies, grasslands, and even Arctic tundra as they enable vast living networks of symbiotic relationships. Trees, themselves, evidently even share alarm signals and defensive enzymes and, in doing so, exhibit a basic form of consciousness as they communicate amongst themselves to warn the others of danger, say insects, thereby triggering in them appropriate chemical defenses. 

The science then takes on a somewhat softer focus as trees are viewed through a kind of metaphorical lens in terms of describing their behavior, perception, and consciousness. This feature actually enhances the article. So many previous Member Monday subjects -- whether they be the environment, comparative economic systems, competition v. co-operation, the very meaning of consciousness -- have been so rooted in strict linear thinking that perhaps we might benefit greatly from seeing these same topics within the context of the ancient wisdom of nature. We may be amazed by what she has to reveal (click, The Social Life Of Forests).

Let us thus approach the article with a sense of humility and be open, for example, to the notion that trees exhibit cooperation over competition -- an "altruistic forest" -- in furtherance of evolution. What might that teach us about the human species?  At the very least we will likely resonate with the demonstrated advantage of seedlings that tap into an extensive underground community of interspecies partnership. Compare and contrast this mindset with that of the traditional linear western thinking giving rise to the clearcut removal of entire forest treks with upturned soil stripped of most underbrush. Which resonates with you?

That is, in essence, The Overstory.