Did you know trees can help each other survive?
When one tree is under attack by insects, it releases chemicals into the air—and neighbors downwind start ramping up their own defenses before the bugs even arrive. It’s like a forest-wide group chat. 🌲📡
What other natural networks might be out there to discover?
Sources
- Airborne signals prime plants against insect herbivore attack — Engelberth et al. 2004, PNAS, the well-supported route for the warning
- Positive citation bias and overinterpreted results lead to misinformation on common mycorrhizal networks in forests — Karst, Jones & Hoeksema 2023, Nature Ecology & Evolution — on why the fungal route is the contested part
Sources checked 2026-08-12.