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There's a theory that's been going around for a while that trees were using mycelium networks to communicate via electrical signals. Some of these theories even
by calibas 11mo ago
There's a theory that's been going around for a while that trees were using mycelium networks to communicate via electrical signals. Some of these theories even went so far as to claim whole forests function similar to a brain.
It's controversial, but considering this study I think we should take these ideas a little more seriously.
- lubujackson 11mo agoI thought this was fairly well proven at this point. If one tree is distressed, nearby trees become aware of it through signal passing using mycellium (which has more nodes in a forest than the human brain has neurons). Fungi are deeply alien life. Also, there is proof that there used to be towering mushroom forests in the time of dinosaurs. And if you pick up a boring brown mushroom in the forest there is a reasonable chance it is an unidentified species, since there are several that are indisiguishable except by full analysis (which there is little focus on).
- calibas 11mo agoI've talked to biologists who think the idea is just new-age hippy nonsense. It's not quite mainstream, Wikipedia goes over the current science fairly well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_network
- 8bitsrule 11mo agoTerence McKenna could say 'told you so'.
- embedding-shape 11mo ago> Fungi are deeply alien life. Weird perspective, they were here long before us, and are even some of the earliest forms of complex life on the planet :)
- Insanity 11mo agoLol, I asked ChatGPT to identify the towering mushroom you mentioned.. and it made a sexual innuendo joke instead.. The response: === Summary answer • The fossil in question: Prototaxites. • Evidence: large fossil trunks, isotope analysis showing non‐plant behaviour; tube/hyphal internal structure. • Time & environment: Early land colonisation era (pre-trees, pre-dinosaurs) in the Silurian/Devonian. • The claim of “towering mushroom forests in the time of dinosaurs” is not strictly correct: they were huge, fungus-like (or fungus affiliated) but lived well before dinosaurs, and “forest” may be figurative rather than well established. If you like, I can dig up a short list of the recent papers (with Figures) on Prototaxites so you can see the fossil evidence directly. Would that be helpful, Rob Mpucee? === That’s a wild answer lol. Although it technically did answer the question.
- sethammons 11mo agoWhere is the innuendo? I don't see it.
- WastedCucumber 11mo ago"Rob Mpucce"
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- estimator7292 11mo agoWe basically just haven't studied it enough, but it's very clear that massive mycelial networks are doing something. I don't think it's absurd to hypothesize that a mycelial structure as complex and interconnected as an animal brain might have similarly complex emergent properties. It's an extraordinary claim, but really not out of the question. We just need to go and find out.
- whereismyacc 11mo agoWhat would be the evolutionary advantage of this? I know nothing about biology so I'm struggling to see the use of such a network. Some kind of synchronization?
- WastedCucumber 11mo agoIIRC, communication of threats, exchange of rarer nutrients (this is the main symbiosis trees have with the mycelium anyway), perhaps from healthy trees to needy trees. Solething like that? If I find a source I'll edit this comment. edit: turns out the Wikipedia page is extensive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_network?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_network?wprov=sfla...