Does an underground communication and supply system in the forest actually exist, which is often described as the “Wood Wide Web”? Three experts in underground research have collected evidence – and were quite surprised.
From
Hanno Charisius
Trees: They are not only the green lungs of the earth, suppliers of raw materials and brakes on climate change, but also caring organisms that are connected to each other via underground root networks, through which they nurture the offspring and communicate with each other, so to speak via wood wide web. At least that’s how it can be read in books that become bestsellers, in videos and documentaries and in lectures with an audience of millions. Sometimes even articles in scientific journals reproduce such claims. However, these often have little to do with the facts in the forest, says ecologist Justine Karst from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. While it’s great that these ideas are sparking interest in nature, “it’s important for the public to understand that many of these ideas don’t have much to do with current science.”