Wohlleben then transitions to discussing the conditions trees need to thrive, and how human interference with natural systems can upset the balanced conditions and biodiversity necessary for a healthy forest.
Wohlleben helps the reader understand trees’ effect on the earth’s weather systems by explaining how connected forests can help move water from coastal regions to inland ecosystems. He then provides the reader with the big picture of forest life, explaining how soil came to exist and its mutually beneficial relationship with trees. The author continues to use simple language and analogies to help the reader understand complex scientific concepts, and also frequently compares trees to people to demonstrate how they age. In his middle chapters Wohlleben discusses the latest research on trees’ fungal networks, water transportation system, and aging processes. He also argues that young trees grow best in undisturbed forests where they can maintain root connections with their parent tree, which “mothers” them by providing them with nutrients and prevents them from growing too quickly. Wohlleben confronts the perception that fast-growing young trees are healthier than slow growing ones and demonstrates that slow growth helps to ensure long term health. He also examines how young trees grow and reports that, despite producing millions of seeds throughout its lifetime, each adult tree will only produce one tree offspring that survives to adulthood. Wohlleben then analyzes different reproductive strategies and discusses the particularities of wind pollination, as well as seed and nut production. The author explains that trees communicate through electrical, visual, and olfactory means, and examines how trees react to pests by releasing defensive compounds through their leaves. These root and fungal networks are now referred to by scientists as the “wood wide web,” which trees can use to share water and nutrients with neighbor trees of the same species.
Suzanne Simard for discovering that trees can communicate with each other because their root systems are connected by networks of beneficial fungi. Wohlleben begins The Hidden Life of Trees by exploring trees’ ability to form social networks.
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