The Wood Wide Web

We should drastically change our relationship with, and our attitude toward plant-life. I've hinted at this in some of my previous posts, but it doesn't hurt repeating that plants and trees do much, much more than just passively exist.

_{Image by OpenClipart-Vectors - source: Pixabay}

The latest scientific research on plants is slowly revealing that plants have a very active and intricate social life. each plant can communicate with all other plants, the fungi underground, insects and other animals. When a plant is attacked it releases a cocktail of chemicals to warn surrounding plants, as to give them a head-start with their defense mechanisms, another cocktail to lure predatory animals or insects to get rid of the attacker, and the plant even recognizes who exactly is attacking by "tasting" the attackers saliva.

When diverse plants live together, for example in a forest, the roots underground are all connected through their roots which are extended by cooperating with fungi, to build an intricate network through which all the plants exchange water, food and information with each other. It's even been established that plants are able to remember and learn from previous experiences; when a plant is attacked the second time by the same attacker, the release of the necessary chemicals for communication and defense are released much quicker than the first time. Some trees have shown to be able to remember events for as long as four years!

Plant communication is real. The Wood Wide Web is really a thing. Now the question is: what are the consequences of learning all this? Do we grant plants the same rights as animals? This may sound silly now, but in Switzerland the government is taking action. Please have a look at this lovely TED talk to learn more from Florianne Koechlin (what a fitting first name) about plants' social life:

_{Tomatoes talk, birch trees learn – do plants have dignity? | Florianne Koechlin}

If you've missed it, here's my previous post about plants' surprising social life: Plants' Social Life.

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