Do Trees Really Communicate Through Fungi? It May Be a Myth
You’ve probably heard the stories: that through an intricate network of underground fungi, trees send nutrients and warning signals back and forth to one another. In Pulitzer Prize-wining novels, New York Times feature articles, PBS documentaries, and TED talks, there have been ample mentions in recent years about the “woodwide web,” or the fungus-mediated connections that supposedly help forests thrive. But that concept may not be all it’s cracked up to be.Every so often in science, a revision is in order. A prevailing…