mycorrhizal network Archives

April 21, 2026April 20, 2026

The Wood Wide Web

Hidden underground is a network that enables most green plants to survive. Without it, most green plants would be unable to survive. It’s a network of mycorrhizal fungi. In 1960, a Swedish botanist demonstrated that substances pass between plants through a fungal pathway. In the 1980s, it became clear that most plants form mycorrhizal associations. In a play on words from the “worldwide web,” English researcher David Reed called this underground network “the wood wide web.”

Through this network, plants exchange nitrogen, phosphorus, water, and carbon. These fungal networks collaborate by connecting with one another, forming a vast, complex mycorrhizal network. Although it is not worldwide, it can be wood wide.

An extreme example of a plant that depends on the wood wide web is Monotropa uniflora, also known as ghost pipes. They resemble white smoking pipes, with their stems stuck in the ground. They are white because they lack chlorophyll and therefore cannot use photosynthesis to produce the nutrients plants need. Since the fungal networks form physical connections between plants, allowing them to share nutrients, Monotropa plants freeload on other plants.

Although Monotropa is an extreme example of dependence on the wood wide web, most other plants depend on receiving and sharing the nutrients required for plant life. We normally think of plants as separate units, and we may even think of them as competing with one another, but that is not always the case. Sometimes tall plants, such as trees, compete with smaller plants by blocking sunlight. However, they may also share nutrients underground through the mycorrhizal network.

Only in recent years have scientists discovered the wood wide web, even though it has surely been around since God created plants. This fungal network is still not fully understood, but science is seeking to understand it. How many other things in God’s creation will we discover in the future? It is clear that we have much to learn about the vast web of life. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

May 7, 2022May 6, 2022

How Do Plants Communicate?

People communicate with each other through spoken and written words and actions. We also know that animals communicate by using sounds and movements. However, we may not be aware that plants talk to each other. They don’t do it by speech, writing, sounds, or movements. Since they are stationary and silent, how do plants communicate?

Plants are continuously engaging with other plants in their environment, mostly underground. For example, the roots of most plants host fungi, and working together, the plant roots and the fungi create underground structures called mycorrhizae. These mycorrhizae resemble a web system surrounding the plant’s roots, helping the plant absorb nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in a symbiotic relationship. As the mycorrhizae help the roots absorb essential nutrients and water, the plant uses photosynthesis to produce sugars which it shares with the fungi.

But how do plants communicate? The mycorrhizae can connect multiple plants into a network through which they can share energy and information. This web creates a fine-tuned community-wide sharing system. Through this communication channel, plants can pass defensive chemicals to protect against insects. When pests such as aphids attack a plant, it can send a message to its neighbors so they can preemptively activate defense responses. In this way, mycorrhizae enable a system of cooperation between plants.

However, when resources such as light or nutrients are scarce, a plant can limit its mycorrhizae connections and avoid making new ones. Then when resources are good, they can restore their sharing network and even make new connections. When the plants connected in the mycorrhizae network are closely related, they share more than if their neighbors are not close relatives. Trees use these fungal networks to communicate and share but also sometimes to sabotage their rivals. Plants determine when to share and when to maintain their independence.

As we investigate the question, “How do plants communicate?” we realize that they behave as humans often do, putting their own interests first. Yet, sharing and working together is part of God’s design for life, and humans should always follow the example set by Jesus in His life and teaching. (See Matthew 5:38-48 and 25:31-46.)

Reference: The Conversation

March 10, 2018September 7, 2018

Tree Rights: Do Trees Have Feelings?

Tree Rights
A German forester and author named Peter Wohileben has written a book titled The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate. The book has sold more than 800,000 copies in Germany and has hit the best-seller list in 11 other countries including the U.S. and Canada. He was quoted in the March issue of Smithsonian magazine as saying, “We must at least talk about the rights of trees.” Since we are concerned about human rights should we also be thinking of tree rights?

According to the article in Smithsonian, scientific evidence indicates “that trees of the same species are communal, and will often form alliances with trees of other species.” Wohileben says that trees in every forest “are connected to each other through underground fungal networks. Trees share water and nutrients through the networks, and also use them to communicate.” What Wohileben is talking about is a symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi underground. The hair-like root tips of trees join together through fungal filaments to form a mycorrhizal network. The fungi consume sugar from the tree roots as they pull nitrogen, phosphorus, and other minerals from the soil which are absorbed by the roots for use by the trees.

The trees communicate through their “wood-wide-web” by “sending chemical, hormonal and slow-pulsing electrical signals.” The large trees with deep roots draw up water which benefits the shallow-rooted trees. The article says that trees also share nutrients with each other, even between species. In addition to the underground network trees also communicate with each other through the release of chemicals into the air, and they release large amounts of moisture into the air feeding rain systems.

Wohileben presents his story of the trees as if they have intelligence. He says that we must “allow some trees to grow old with dignity, and die a natural death.” Multiple scientists refute Wohileben saying that trees are not “sentient beings” and call Wohileben’s ideas anthropomorphism.

We believe that God has given us the duty to protect the environment. That includes trees. (Genesis 2:9, 15) However, we see great danger in talking about tree rights. Plants and animals are here to serve humans, and we are here to serve God.
–Roland Earnst © 2018