“The Hidden Life of Trees” is a controversial 2015 book by German author Peter Wohlleben, who argues that trees communicate with each other as well as feel.
Wohlleben presents the idea that forests are a living social network — claiming that trees have ties akin to families, which they care for and help grow in their own way.
According to the author, trees use underground fungal networks to share nutrients with other trees to help them recover from disease and thrive.
It is a contentious claim, supported in part by academics including from the University of Portsmouth, which has published research showing that mature plants help smaller plants thrive in harsh environmental conditions.
Another article from BBC Earth supports some of Wohlleben’s claims, describing how some trees can use their senses to “hear” predators through vibrations in the ground or “smell” other plants by detecting chemical indicators.
An additionally curious aspect of the book is its ideas about complex tree communication methods. It also talks about different factors that play a role in their growth, like fungi, insects and birds.
The author goes to great lengths, moreover, to push the idea that securing healthy forests through sustainable practices helps the wider environment flourish.
However, the book has come in for significant criticism, with Sharon Kingsland, writing in the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, suggesting it is aimed at “lay” readers rather than forestry scientists, many of whom Wohlleben has “infuriated” by “eliciting an emotional response from readers through (the book’s) powers of suggestion.”
Kingsland says the author tends to anthropomorphize trees, whilst noting a 2017 petition launched by two German scientists calling on colleagues to criticize the book received over 4,500 signatures, calling it a “conglomeration of half-truths, biased judgements, and wishful thinking.”
Despite this, “The Hidden Life of Trees” is a great read for people who want to see nature in a new light, as it sets out a path to view trees not as inanimate commodities, but as ecosystems with needs which, if met, will have wider benefits for the planet.
