The Art and Wisdom of Old Growth Forest
Fungi networks hide in forest floors. Follow me into the unknown wonders of the Old Growth Forest….
Living Soil – Fungi Networks
After a heavy rain fall in the Winema National Forest in Oregon, there is a break in the clouds and the sun begins to peek through.
A perfect time to explore a world that is both familiar and strange.
Take a deep breath in and take in the aroma of the forest. Earthy perfume fills the air and serves as a reminder that this is not the land of concrete covered grounds.
Feet spring back on spongelike surfaces as they react to the living soil underneath. Beneath the top layer of soil resides an ancient organism.
The Start of Life
Towering trees overshadow one of the newest members of the forest floor. The forest has recently welcomed a sprouting fir tree seedling.
The seedling is in a vulnerable position. So it doesn’t get much sunlight, being so low to the ground. It can’t reach the water and nutrient supplies in the soil with its tiny, microscopic roots.
Help is on the way.
Fungi Networks
Right below the seedling’s emerging roots, lies the mile wide fungi mycorrhizal network eager and ready to attach to the seedling’s newly formed roots.
Underground networks hide beneath the soil. A mushroom the size of your pinky gives its presence away. Mushrooms, the fruiting bodies of the fungi, spread spores across the forest to build their fungal network.
Beneath the mushroom, threadlike fungi filaments called mycelium spread out. Then they create structures much like the roots of a tree but with branches as thin as a strand of hair. One single network of fungi spreads out for miles, even acres, across the forest, creating one giant organism.
The seedling’s root tips are on an active search for the resources they need to survive. In the seedling’s desperate search, they encounter the fungi. The fungi attach to the seedling’s roots. They enter a partnership millions of years in the making.
An Ancient Partnership
The seedling makes its own food. It turns sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into sugars through photosynthesis in its leaves. Fungi cannot make their own food. The two organisms enter an agreement that says: Fungi will use the tree’s sugar as a source of food and energy. In exchange, the fungi will help the tree by giving them access to more water and nutrients. They form a symbiotic relationship, that gives the seedling access to the wealth of whole forest.
Mycelia are attached to the seedling’s roots and to dozens of other trees. Trees that are hundreds of years old, different species, mile away and trees that are right next to it.
Further the older tree has mastered the collection water, carbon and nutrients, while the seedling has just begun to learn. One has a lot of resources, and one has very low resources. The distribution of resources is not equal. The forest system unbalanced. To equalize and balance the system, resources flow from one tree to the other through the mycelium network.
Complex Forest Communities
In the summertime, the tallest trees in the forest are showered by bright rays of sun. Their tall crowns of leaves take advantage of the extra sun and make sugar nonstop until they slow down for the setting sun. The tree seedling sits in the shadows of giants, unable to reach the sunlight shower. Tall trees share their summertime wealth of resources with the youngest of their species. Resources are balanced as they are sent from tall trees to short trees in the summer.
A tree in the fir seedling’s network is a birch tree. In brilliant yellow, oranges and reds the birches signal to the world that fall has arrived. While a beautiful sight, birches lose their leaves and lose the ability to make enough food through photosynthesis. The fir tree seedling and its relatives, keep their leaves during the fall. To balance resources, fir passes resources to birch, to protect the health of the entire forest.
As the seedling continues to grow and participate in this complex dance of resource flow, there is trouble in the far corner of the forest…
A fir tree is being attacked by bark beetles. The invaded tree sends chemical signals that are transported with the flow of water through the fungal networks. Neighboring trees receive the signal and begin to prepare for attack. The seedling begins to produce chemicals that will protect them from the incoming invaders. Crisis averted.
One Whole Organism
Hence the seedling is part of an old growth forest ecosystem that is centuries old. Fungi networks hide in forest floors. Their community includes almost every single tree in the forest. The whole forest behaving as one whole organism.
The ancient partnership of fungi and trees is present in every tree that emerges from the forest floor. An unending active world beneath the very soil we walk on.
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