The firs retain ancient memories from their surroundings and communicate with each other in the hours before a solar eclipse, it suggests a new international study.
“Now we see that the forest is not a mere collection of individuals, but as an orchestra or correlated phase In a statement.
An interdisciplinary team composed of researchers from Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain and Australia built custom sensors and placed them through a forest in the Dolomite mountains in Italy. Using the sensors, the equipment recorded simultaneous bioelectric responses of the firs.
Before and duration of the eclipse, the electrical activity of the individual trees became “significantly” more synchronized, the researchers found. This phenomenon, they say, is evidence that the forest is a unified life system.
“By applying advanced analytical methods, including complexity measures and quantum field theory, we have discovered a deeper and previously not recognized dynamic synchronization not based on matter exchanges between trees,” said Chiolerio.
The oldest trees in the forest had an early response to the eclipse that was more pronounced, the authors say. This suggests that old trees contain ancient memories they can access. When events arise, the old trees “remember” and report the youngest trees.
“Basically, we are seeing the famous ‘Wood Wide Web’ in Action!” Monica Gagliano, Southern Cross University, Australia, and co-leader of the study, said in the statement.
Gagliano said that the findings about older trees privately emphasize the importance of preserving these trees.
“The fact that the oldest trees respond first, potentially guiding the collective response of the forest, says a lot about its role as memory banks of past environmental events,” Galiano said.
“This discovery underlines the critical importance of protecting the oldest forests, which serve as pillars of the ecosystem resilience by preserving and transmitting an invaluable ecological knowledge,” he added.
The study It was published on April 30 in Royal Society Open Science magazine.
A documentary about research, IL CODICE DEL BOSCO (The forest code) will be launched in Italy this month. You can see The official trailer here.
