TREES RESEARCH

A NOTE ON ANCIENT WOODLANDS:

Ancient woodlands are woods that have been continuously wooded for a minimum of 3-400 years (AD 1600 in England and Wales) and this is just half the lifespan of a large oak tree. Britain has lost almost half its ancient woodland since the 1930s, and it makes up only 2 % of British woodland. Ancient trees are recognised as exceptionally valuable, which may be due to their: size, age, condition, or biodiversity.

Ancient woodlands are temperate, not tropical rainforests but their biodiversity is as rich and there are less of them. These old trees provide great micro habits for other species, and the absence of disturbance here provides good habitats for rarer species. Ferns and mosses, species that need damp conditions can thrive on the woodland floor and on the bark of trees. Lichens are a good indicator of ancient woodlands due to their extremely slow growth and need for unpolluted environments. Fungi, usually invisible unless in fruit penetrate and then decompose rotting trees, whether standing or fallen, though mostly hidden are essential to the success and maintenance of ancient woodlands.

Podcast: The hidden language of trees with Suzanne Simard 14.5.21

Simard is a scientist, Professor of Forest Ecology at University of British Columbia. She wrote a PhD thesis and as researched tree connectivity and communication, and its impact on the health and biodiversity of forests (1997), written about in her book: Finding the Mother tree: uncovering the wisdom and intelligence of the forest (Simard, 2021).

• Forests are not just natural resources, or commodity based, they have memories, wisdom, complex communities, web of fungi through the mother tree. A mother tree is the biggest oldest in the forest. They have vast root systems with old fungi networks which nurture the new seedlings and enhance their defence chemistry, which gets passed onto multiple generations- this is teaching the next generation how to survive.
• Forests are complex systems showing, interconnectivity, diversity, clean air, hold water, resilient, transport systems.
• Value the non-resource elements: Carbon, water biodiversity, rather than as a commodity.
• There are parallels with the brain an example of a not a neurological network, but a biological neural network with conduits for transporting resources, glutamate, serotonin, synapses. When you map the networks in the forests they are constructed like neural networks with interlinked nodes and synapses (where exchanges happen), with glutamate moving throughout the network, these are highly evolved, resilient, efficient networks.
• There is a symbiotic mutual relationship between fungi and trees mycorrhizal (which means fungal root) below ground network, trees provide the photosynthesis, the fungi provide nutrients from the soil – a physical connection. All trees form these relationships as they are essential for their fitness, whilst fungi rely on trees as they collect nutrients and water from the soil for the trees who provide the fungi with energy from photosynthesis.
• Trees have a way of communicating, for instance communicating against threat with biological neural network.
• Trees are also conduits for transporting resources. E.g., Douglas firs have been found to warn ponderous pine about injury and herbivores in the environment that are causing them to die back.
• Climate change is adapted to and recorded in their seeds, if you destroy trees, you lose this adaptability record.
• Don’t short circuit natural selection, as when planting conifer forests. Single species ae not resilience. Don’t isolate trees, use the connections between species, collaboration is important. Birch and Fir transport carbon back and forwards between themselves, the community is helping the individual – arboreal socialism? They compete but collaborate, are diverse and resilient forming productive community. Other species don’t grow in isolation, a society with dominant individuals would not succeed. Diversity is strength, and with this tree’s productivity and resilience increases. Single species are more open to destruction by disease, as you often get in cities.
• Trees in old growth forests hold carbon that have accumulated for centuries. When cut two-thirds disappears into the atmosphere fairly immediately, not to mention the system below ground. This can’t be recaptured within the time we have left to change the course of climate change.
• Need to increase old woodlands, rather than replant trees. Challenge consciousness and business models. In Monkswood in East Anglia, Wilderness plots were established (1960s), where a barley field was left next to ancient woodland and now has a variety of ancient species growing there – natural regeneration. Stop cutting down old growth forests. If encouraging recovery of old forest, leave oldest trees in place, take out smaller trees to boot strap the natural regeneration to make a healthy diverse eco system. As climate changes more rapidly than trees can adapt, evolve, and migrate, if they can’t achieve this they’ll die, so to help them to survive and hold carbon, we need to enable a mix of naturally regenerated seedlings to support migration by scaffolding to create a viable ecosystem. Naturally, regenerated trees are more successful than planted forests, they hold adaptations in their seeds.
• Consumption: use alternatives or less. At least, use only second growth forest where losses have already been made and enhance them by leaving any older trees.

My reflections:

• Forests are about connections, resilience.
• Species don’t grow in isolation diversity is important for the strength of both individuals and communities, they compete but they collaborate, and resilience and productivity increases.
• We should value forests by their true impact on our lives, for example producing water, carbon, clean air. Convert and preserve what we have left.

References:

Intelligence Squared (2021) The Hidden Language of Trees with Suzanne Simard (Subscribers only). At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIn4CWSjiEg (Accessed 01/03/2022).

Simard, S. (2021) Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. (s.l.): Penguin Books, Limited.

Other books that I will write about later:

Beresford-Kroeger, D. (2019) To Speak for the Trees: My Life’s Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest. (s.l.): Random House of Canada.

Deacon, A., and V. D. A. (2020) For the Love of Trees. (s.l.): Black and White Publishing Limited.

Deakin, R. (2008) Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees. (s.l.): Penguin UK.

Geddes, L. and Finlay, M. (2021) ‘Unearthing the secret social lives of trees – podcast’ In: The Guardian 29/04/2021 At: http://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2021/apr/29/unearthing-the-secret-social-lives-of-trees-podcast (Accessed 26/10/2021).

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