Suzanne Simard's radioactive-carbon experiments showed carbon crossing between paper birch and Douglas fir through underground fungal threads, a 1997 Nature study that launched the idea of a "wood-wide web." The idea traveled from journal to TED talk, memoir, novel and film, while the claim that old trees favor their own kin drew sharp challenge.
Who's who
- Suzanne Simard+2 more episodesUBC forest ecologist; author of the 1997 paper and a 2021 memoir
- David A. PerryOregon State forest ecologist; Simard's PhD advisor and 1997 co-author
- Melanie Jones+1 more episodeMycorrhizal biologist; 1997 co-author and later co-author of the 2023 critique
- David ReadBritish mycorrhizal scientist whose commentary helped popularize "wood-wide web"
- Justine Karst+1 more episodeLead author of the 2023 critique of mycorrhizal network claims
- Jason Hoeksema+1 more episodeCo-author of the 2023 critique
- Richard PowersNovelist whose The Overstory echoes Simard's story
Where it happens
- Monashee Mountains, British ColumbiaWhere Simard grew up in a hand-logging family
- Oregon State University, OregonWhere Simard completed her PhD in 1995
Timeline
- 1995Simard completes her PhD on carbon transfer between tree species
- August 1997Simard et al. publish carbon-transfer findings in Nature
- 2016Simard's TED talk "How trees talk to each other" reaches a mass audience
- 2021Simard's memoir Finding the Mother Tree is published
- February 2023Karst, Jones and Hoeksema argue key popular claims are overstated
Still debated
Whether mother trees preferentially send carbon or defense signals to their own offspring is the most challenged idea, with critics finding no field evidence. Whether carbon transfer actually benefits recipient seedlings is also unsettled.