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Talks of the Mother tree and Baby trees

Team StoryWeavers|March 08, 2022, 19:17 IST| 14

Did you know that trees talk? They share their food, transfer their wisdom and help each other survive.

Like humans, they are social beings too. Like a close-knit family of humans, trees also have interconnected families. The mamma trees talk to baby trees, protect them and nourish them. The older trees transfer wisdom and food to the trees that are in need.  And the younger trees, while fighting to win the fundamental challenge of existence, wait to take up the responsibilities of older trees. 

Unlike the age-old thought – trees only compete with each other for resources, trees actually cooperate with each other and aim at living together. But how do they do it? Let’s dig in!

How Do Mamma Trees Communicate with Baby Trees?

As per the forester and author, Peter Wohhleben (The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they communicate?), the mother trees supply necessary nutrients to saplings, warn their neighbours about dangers, and pass on words of wisdom to young trees through a network called Mycorrhizal network.

The mother trees or the hub trees are the biggest and the oldest trees in the forest. They take up the role of nurturing and supporting the shallow-rooted seedlings or the baby trees. Key nutrients like water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and allele chemicals are supplied to baby trees through the mycorrhizal network. 

Fascinating facts 

  • Mycorrhizal networks are the fungi networks that connect the tips of one tree to the other.  
  • The fungi and the trees work on a symbiotic relationship. Fungi take up 30 per cent of the sugar photosynthesized by the trees. In return, they transfer the key nutrients from one tree to the other. 
  • Mother trees supply sugar to the trees in shady areas, thereby providing a better chance for survival. 
  • The trees that are dying, dump their resources into the network so that it could be used by healthier neighbours.
  • Trees can also send distress signals in the form of chemicals through the network in case of disease or emergencies. 
  • The downside of having mycorrhizal networks: 
    • The networks could be hacked by a few unnecessary plants or trees and sugars can be stolen. 
    • A few species like Black Walnut can pump toxic chemicals into the network and sabotage their rivals. 

In a nutshell, the interconnected and interdependent web of trees converse with each other and are supportive of each other, albeit in ultra-slow motion. These tightly-knit complex relationships between the trees help the entire forest thrive and maintain the whole system intact. Did do you that Van Mahotsav is practiced for creating awareness and spreading the importance of the conservation of forests and planting of new trees?

Are you a tree lover? Then here are some posts on trees,

Cloning the Oldest Trees to Fight Climate Change – Will it Work?

Saluting environmentalist Saalumarada Thimmakka this World Earth Day

 

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Comments



Gaurya Naik

June 5, 2020

So amazing ??????


Nandini Dhoni

April 27, 2020

Thanks a lot for information. Please keep updated time to time.c


Ravindra

April 22, 2020

Thanks for such a wonderful article


Anuva

April 22, 2020

Its really nice of byju’s to give such
wonderful information.Thank you byju’s?


Kristi

March 14, 2020

Wow I didn’t know that plants also communicate.


devyani r. tale

November 17, 2019

THANK BYJUS FOR INFORMATION ABOUT TREES I AM IN CLASS 7


MOHAMMAD UBAID

November 15, 2019

Wow!
I didn’t know earlier that plants can share their nutrients to other plant.


Charitha

November 6, 2019

Wow that’s good to know that trees will communicate


Swastika

October 13, 2019

Trees are more helpful and cooperative than today’s people. Rightly said :
दशपुत्र समो द्रूम:। It means a tree is equal to ten sons.
Thank you Byju’s for introducing us to this new mode of communication!


Shagun

October 12, 2019

Thanks Byju’s for such a great information ???


Shaivi

October 9, 2019

Wow I never knew that trees could talk thanks for your amazing
Information about the mother tree and the baby tree . I would
Really like to know more about plants and animals. Would you mind
Guiding me byjus. That’s true Anuj but actually I am in class 4


Anuj Bhat

October 9, 2019

I was shocked to hear that trees have the ability to talk.It was really interesting?.I enjoyed reding the
whole paragraph.A BIG THANKS TO BYJUS. ????????????????????????????????
??????


Adarsh

October 8, 2019

Really? That’s amazing. It’s new to know that trees talk!!


Anuj Kumar Gupta

October 7, 2019

I also think that trees talk…Thanks byjus for this information…..
I want to know how could we become an astronomer…..I am in class vii
please guide me…


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