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The Sunday Read: ‘The Social Life of Forests’

Foresters once regarded trees as solitary individuals: They competed for space and resources, but were otherwise indifferent to one another. The work of the Canadian ecologist Suzanne Simard upended that, finding that while there is indeed conflict in a forest, there is also negotiation, reciprocity and even selflessness. Ms. Simard discovered that underground fungal threads link nearly every tree in a forest. On today’s Sunday Read, listen to an exploration of these links and the influential and contentious work of Ms. Simard. This story was written by Ferris Jabr and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
Duration
49m
Broadcast on
06 Dec 2020
Audio Format
other

Foresters once regarded trees as solitary individuals: They competed for space and resources, but were otherwise indifferent to one another.

The work of the Canadian ecologist Suzanne Simard upended that, finding that while there is indeed conflict in a forest, there is also negotiation, reciprocity and even selflessness.

Ms. Simard discovered that underground fungal threads link nearly every tree in a forest.

On today’s Sunday Read, listen to an exploration of these links and the influential and contentious work of Ms. Simard.

This story was written by Ferris Jabr and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. (gentle music) - Hi, I'm Ferris Jaber. And for this week's issue of the New York Times Magazine, I wrote about a scientist named Suzanne Samard who changed the way we think about the fundamental nature of forests. In biology in general, one of the most fundamental principles is that all individuals compete with each other for space and resources. And it is this kind of ruthless competition between individuals and between species that drives a lot of evolution, that's kind of what forces organisms to become more adapted to their environments and to out-compete others. It's all about leaving more offspring. So I think for a long time, biologists, botanists, foresters, thought of trees as competing individuals. But what Suzanne has shown is that that model is far too simplistic. There's clearly a lot more going on in a forest and in an ecosystem, there's negotiation, there's compromise, there's reciprocity. So much of what Suzanne studies is about connectivity. And I think right now, because of the pandemic, the pandemic has really revealed just how connected we all are and how vulnerable we become when those networks break down. And I think that really underscores that reciprocity and cooperation is important for any society or ecosystem, whether it's a forest, one or a human one or otherwise. So here's my story. The Social Life of Forests, read by Julia Whalen.
As a child, Suzanne Samard often roamed Canada's old-growth forests with her siblings, building forts from fallen branches, foraging mushrooms and huckleberries,

Transcription truncated.

Foresters once regarded trees as solitary individuals: They competed for space and resources, but were otherwise indifferent to one another. The work of the Canadian ecologist Suzanne Simard upended that, finding that while there is indeed conflict in a forest, there is also negotiation, reciprocity and even selflessness. Ms. Simard discovered that underground fungal threads link nearly every tree in a forest. On today’s Sunday Read, listen to an exploration of these links and the influential and contentious work of Ms. Simard. This story was written by Ferris Jabr and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.