Cooperation In The Forest

A forest is the ultimate sustainable cooperative community

Trees are but part of the larger forest, 2/3 of which is unseen under our feet. Also unseen is the incredible amount of cooperation that takes place in the forest.

There are many mutually beneficial relationships between species, creating a web of working together to form an entity much larger than any of its parts.

Everything has a role to play in building and maintaining the forest. It would continue in perpetuity, if we would allow. A forest is the ultimate sustainable, cooperative community.

Instead of wiping trees and forests out, we should be studying them and learning their valuable lessons.

Mushroom (mycorrhiza) Cooperation

"In the early 1990s mycologist Suzanne Simard and her team at Oregon State University discovered that cobwebby networks of mycorrhiza could connect not only many trees of the same species but also trees of different species.

They encountered birch connected to fir trees by up to ten different species of fungi. Moreover, birch trees growing in bright sunlight seemed to be subsidizing fir trees in the shade by sharing sugars via their mycorrhiza network."  - source: backyardnature