[HN Gopher] The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They C...
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       The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate
       (2018)
        
       Author : peterburkimsher
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2022-03-19 22:28 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com)
        
       | sdoering wrote:
       | At first I thought the idea of trees (or plants in general)
       | communicating something out of the esoteric corner.
       | 
       | But over time I read quite a bit of interesting reports on
       | scientific experiments showing a few interesting ways plants
       | communicate information towards other plants.
       | 
       | The book added to that. It was really an interesting and mind
       | opening read.
        
       | technobabbler wrote:
       | FYI there is also an illustrated edition, with cool pictures
       | illustrating cool tree things:
       | https://greystonebooks.com/products/the-hidden-life-of-trees...!
       | 
       | If you like scientific nonfiction in this vein, I'd also
       | recommend:
       | 
       | - The Wild Trees
       | 
       | - Mycelium Running
       | 
       | - Mind of the Raven
       | 
       | - The Klamath Knot
       | 
       | Or if you want tree fiction:
       | 
       | - The Overstory
       | 
       | (edit: dunno how to do bullet lists here)
        
       | cooervo wrote:
       | I loved this book, finished it like 2 months ago totally worth
       | reading 10/10
        
       | ru552 wrote:
       | Yes. Magic School Bus already did this episode.
        
       | trhway wrote:
       | >Scientists call these mycorrhizal networks. The fine, hairlike
       | root tips of trees join together with microscopic fungal
       | filaments to form the basic links of the network, which appears
       | to operate as a symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi,
       | or perhaps an economic exchange. As a kind of fee for services,
       | the fungi consume about 30 percent of the sugar that trees
       | photosynthesize from sunlight. The sugar is what fuels the fungi,
       | as they scavenge the soil for nitrogen, phosphorus and other
       | mineral nutrients, which are then absorbed and consumed by the
       | trees.
       | 
       | To me it looks like the fungi are farming the trees. All what is
       | described as cooperation among trees (and seem paradoxical to
       | supposed competition) more fits the fungi's purpose of maximizing
       | of that sugar production (as well as shade and moisture which are
       | key to fungi thriving) on given square footage.
       | 
       | The trees can't force fungi to pass signal nor to transfer
       | nutrition from a healthy to a weak tree. It is fungi who have all
       | the power here and they would take the nutrition from a large
       | healthy tree and pass it to a weak tree to provide for the tree
       | not dying and thus not getting a sunny and dry spot and losing
       | the sugar production from that spot.
        
       | reustle wrote:
       | I really enjoyed this book. Recommended for anytime looking to
       | get a slightly deeper look into how forests function, and why
       | trees do what they do when they do.
        
         | Normille wrote:
         | I like the basic concept that trees [and other plants] can form
         | networks and pass along, via their intertwined root systems,
         | chemical signals in response to changes in their environment
         | etc. But I found the book anthropomorphised to a degree that
         | bordered on ridiculous. Talking of trees feeling "sad" when one
         | of their "friends" died or was cut down was just a bit too
         | cutesy for my liking.
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-20 23:01 UTC)