Trees in a forest might look solitary but they are connected underground by a complex network of thread-like strands of fungi, some of which may only be visible to us as mushrooms on the surface. Through these connections in the soil, trees are widely believed to share food, water and even information, such as warnings of enemy attack. The concept of an interconnected forest has evoked comparisons with the internet, hence the moniker “the wood-wide web”.
The idea that trees share resources and potentially communicate with each other through fungal interlocutors seemed fantastical and was a startling revelation upon its first discovery in the mid-1990s. Nearly three decades on, researchers have examined the evidence and found that while soil fungi are important, some of the popular claims made about the wood-wide web lack proof.
