Humans may have built an artificial world wide web to streamline communication, but nature has its own ways of creating connection. Whoever thinks that there is only earth beneath our feet is making a serious mistake. Hidden underground is one of nature’s most brilliant mysteries, an intricate way of generating union: the Wood Wide Web. This magical underground network that connects the gentle wisdom of the , the fungal world and the microorganisms of the forest.
Wood Wide Web
The purest communication that exists
Trees, plants and bacteria may not have a brain like animals have, but they don’t need it, together they form a large brain in themselves. In the depths of the earth, where man is not able to see, a conjunction of tree roots is interwoven. Scientists know it as the Wood Wide Web. From the smallest tree to the largest, deep within lies a huge synapse communicating wisely and caring for each other.
Learning to look beyond the obvious is a quality that not everyone develops; those who decided to leave the obvious aside found that trees are not the only ones that participate in this great synapse. Fungi and bacteria also do their thing, they till the soil by exchanging minerals to make it a safe place for life to emerge from it.
But it is not only a connection between these three kingdoms, the flora, the fungal world and the microscopic bacteria. It goes beyond that, it is communication in the purest and most natural form that exists. The earth is a hidden world, it is made up of millions of microorganisms that feed on the organic waste that other beings leave behind as they pass through death. It is a cemetery that brings a constant dialectic to life.
Complex system of tree brotherhood
The inhabitants of the forest use all the potential that nature put in front of them to create a complex system of coexistence. That is why we say that it is the purest form of connection that exists, because between the enormous trees, the fungi and the microscopic bacteria, they make sure to provide everyone with what they need.
Mushrooms and trees have formed an ancient alliance that allows them to survive. Through their roots, wise giants release moisture and sap, from which the fungal world around them feeds. This alliance is called mycorrhizae and it is a symbiotic association. For their part, the fungal filaments mobilize nutrients and minerals from the soil to the roots of the trees. The next time you see a tree with fungus nearby, you will understand that it is not a pest, but rather a surprising connection between the two.
But in an even more surprising development, trees connect their roots to each other to send signals and engage in conversation. Through biochemical and electrical signals they are able to feed each other. If they detect that a nearby neighbor is sick or lacks enough light or humidity to survive, they help them. It has even been proven that several trees together can keep alive a stump of a fallen companion due to human felling or another factor.
Change of vision
After all, it seems that James Cameron was not so wrong and very eloquently brought the Wood Wide Web to the screen, although Avatar takes place in another world far from Earth, the nature of both worlds does not seem to be very different. The next time you hug a tree, keep in mind that it could be sharing with you its healing energy emerging from millions of connected roots down there.
Once you know the intricate network formed by tree roots, bacteria and fungi, it is almost impossible to look at the forest and the earth in the same way as before. It becomes a lesson in resilience and togetherness that humans themselves should learn to apply in their societies. The wisdom of the forest is in front of us, only the essential is invisible to the eyes.