German Forest Ranger Finds That Trees Have Social Networks, Too | Hacker News Reader

German Forest Ranger Finds That Trees Have Social Networks, Too

nytimes.com

72 pointsdnetesn15 comments

FTA: "“You see how the thick branches point away from each other? That’s so they don’t block their buddy’s light.”"

I noticed this in some tall trees in the Sequoyah National Park too. I remember thinking to myself: how do they know about the presence of each other?

While many scientists will grimace at the anthropomorphism in the narrative, you have to ask: why can't we use similar terms as ours to describe the trees' interactions? Who is to say that vocalizing some predetermined sounds is the only way to "talk"?

why can't we use similar terms as ours to describe the trees' interactions?

I haven't read the article yet, but presumably because doing so is inaccurate. The inaccuracy isn't a problem for people sufficiently familiar with the topic that they understand the anthropomorphism, but for people new to the topic confusion ensues unbeknownst to them. Natural selection is a classic example of anthropomorphism leading to people not having the slightest understanding of what they're talking about.

Someone tells me nobody is going to believe the trees actually talk to each other when no humans are within listening distance. It shouldn't make that much of a difference whether you use communicate or talk. What does make a difference is whether people care about the topic, even just a little bit or not at all.

The real question about nonhuman intellogence is not "do trees behave like people", it is " do people behave essentially differently from trees"

That's so smart :)

“You see how the thick branches point away from each other? That’s so they don’t block their buddy’s light.”

Would be nice if there was more info on this. Without any, I would suggest the trees below are growing because of light reaching them as a result of the higher trees' branches facing other directions from some other cause. Presumably the smaller trees sprouted after the taller trees, in which case the above is suggesting the branches of the taller trees changed direction when the young trees arrived, so the branches should have a curve.

I wish I had taken a photo. It looked like a single tree split in half! Except, they weren't right next to each other, but about 12 - 15 feet apart. One tree had all its branches to the left; the other, all to the right.

Sometimes I think that the world is turning to animism again.

Green parts of the plants do not growth normally[1] towards the dark. When a bud points in the bad direction do not survive for a long time, is killed either by the shadow of its "buddy" or by substances that its 'friendly neighbour tree' releases.

A tree is like a coral in many aspects. Each branch in a tree acts as the member of a colonial superstructure. Some survive and other don't. This is known in ecology since decades. And, like corals engaged in warfare, they "auto-prune" itselves. To explain this case as "they are friends of this other tree or this concrete wall" is just silly

This is just advertising trying to sell a book.

[1] There are some special cases of plants searching the darkest places, like in peanuts or pennywort burying itselves for example. Roots aren't green and are a different case of course.

I live very close to Hümmel, and, although knowing about the burial ground concept, "Friedwald", its the first time I hear about the Rest of this. Of course, living in the Eifel brings a special relationship to the forest, after everything that happened here. None of the forests here is older than 200 Years, and only monoculture. Read about Clemens de Lassaulx, who reforested giant amounts of dead soil, which had been cut down for coal by the authorities, before the rhineland became prussian.

German ranger?

1973. Ivan Marchenko "Biological field of forest ecosystems" Also see theory of biogroups by Rogozin.

  634.9
  М 30

    Марченко, И. С. 
    Биополе лесных экосистем [Текст] : монография / И.С.     Марченко; Брян. гос. инж.-технол. акад., Ин-т экологии междунар. инж. акад. - Брянск : Придесенье, 1995. - 188 с. : ил. - 1000 экз.. - 20000 р.

free link :

http://www.tampabay.com/news/world/german-forest-ranger-find...

Wonderful article. I've recently started growing some sunflowers in my yard. When they're young sprouts and only have a leaf or two, they are very fragile -- if they lose those leaves then their growth is stunted forever. They'll be stubs after that. As some sunflowers outgrow others, the shadows they cast on the smaller ones causes the little ones to twist and bend to escape the shadow and drink in some light.

I think what I love about them is observing their lives play out so much more slowly than ours. They react to their environment and strive for their own goals of survival and reproduction. But so slowly, gently...

Amazon UK Link = http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1771642483/

Due to be published 13 Sept. 2016

Could it be that younger trees (and growth) are simply growing into where light is more available? Where their "buddies" aren't? Wouldn't this explain "shared" space and even thicker branches pointing away from where existing trees block the sun.

If isolated trees of these species do not have these space creating directional tendencies, then in a group the trees are not just "growing into available space".

I haven't read the book but I think you can investigate this to affirm or rule out plain affinity for sunlight during growth.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com