7/26/2016
I loved watching a TED talk today at lunch by Suzanne Simard about her 30 years of research in forests in Canada on how trees communicate with one another and transfer molecular nutrients through microrhizzal networks. I’m an arboreal enthusiast, having spent lots of time in Alabama, which has the greatest number of tree varieties in the US. Love, love, love the varieties of deciduous and evergreens I’ve enjoyed over the years. Turns out that trees are supercooperators, with “mother tree” nodes and extensive cross species underground support structures that nurture understory tress and new seedlings. Her work can help conservationists and logging interests share knowledge and interests in fostering better forest health and production. Everyone can win, even the forests…….Her first “aha” moment about the possibility of trees “communicating” underground occurred when her dog fell into the pit in the family outhouse. She and her grandfather dug him out and she began to notice the layers of underground root systems among the surrounding trees. It sparked her curioslty and led to hypotheses that she later reserached and tested meticulouly with great care and patience. I love such stories of perseverance but also the spark of insight that I believe is God’s way of leading people into new discoveries that can benefit creation and help us be better stewards of the created world!