In Sheldrake's book, Engtangled Life, if I remember correctly, he suggests that it may be better not to think of it as trees communicating, but rather mycorrhizal networks passing on the information to other trees because it's in their interest to do so (the article posted alludes to this). It's similar to how mycorrhizal networks will transfer chemicals and nutrients between trees, because it's to their benefit to keep as many trees alive as possible.
One thing I do remember that was quite fascinating, is that the exchange of nutrients and chemicals is almost like a trading network: mycorrhizal fungi will send stuff it produces that trees need to places where the reward (payment) will be highest. An example would be, if the mycorrhizal fungi has phosphorous to "trade" for carbon, if there is a tree that will "pay" less (perhaps because it doesn't need the phosphorous, or it needs carbon for itself), the mycorrhizal fungi would rather divert that phosphorus to another tree that would give a greater return of carbon.
Yeah, it’s wild stuff. The linked Radiolab episode below discusses (among other fascinating things) how fungi are responding to climate change by choosing to trade more with trees that are better suited to the new climate; I’m guessing that they get a “better deal” from those trees. Fungi farm forests.
I don’t remember if it’s in that episode or if I read it somewhere else, but fungi will also help parent trees to preferentially provide nutrients to their offspring over other trees of the same species. Perhaps that uses the same mechanism: “this tree tastes a lot like that one, let’s pool their resources.”
The more I learn about forests, the more I see them as superorganisms. I guess that’s what an ecosystem is; it’s just getting harder and harder for me to differentiate a cell vs a plant vs an animal vs an ecosystem in many ways—scale being the main difference, and complexity quite close to it. But that perceived complexity could be an artifact of my perspective as a conscious participant at the scale in which I live, and my familiarity with “what behaviors matter to humans and organisms more like humans.”
I recently watched the film Fantastic Fungi and I think she makes an appearance in it. I was really fascinated when they mention how trees can use mycelium to transfer nutrients to other trees, but wished they could go more in depth on how that works. This Ted talk is a great supplement to the research
I think the mere concept of this level of communication sounds very intimate -- very emotional. I would stop focusing on whether or not the science is presented in a way you expect it to be.
I'm sorry but her link with sickness emotional support and plants synergy/exchange network is cringe at best. And I'm open minded regarding science and status quo ..
One thing I do remember that was quite fascinating, is that the exchange of nutrients and chemicals is almost like a trading network: mycorrhizal fungi will send stuff it produces that trees need to places where the reward (payment) will be highest. An example would be, if the mycorrhizal fungi has phosphorous to "trade" for carbon, if there is a tree that will "pay" less (perhaps because it doesn't need the phosphorous, or it needs carbon for itself), the mycorrhizal fungi would rather divert that phosphorus to another tree that would give a greater return of carbon.
There's a description of this "trading network" here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6584331/
Apologies if I described it wrong, I read the book a while ago.