The Hidden Life of Trees

The old story that trees will grow better if their nearby competitors are removed so that they can get lots of sunshine and water, comes from the forestry industry that wants trees to grow quickly so they can be harvested at a young age.  

However, forester and author, Peter Wohlleben in the The Hidden Life of Trees tells a new story based on decades of observation and science.  He says that although the story of competition may be true for trees of different species, it is not true for trees of the same species.  Beech trees for example share resources.  Researchers have found that they synchronize their photosynthesis or sugar production using the power of the sun, so that all the trees are equally successful.  They share the sugar through their roots.  The trees that have an abundance give sugar to the trees that are struggling.  Wohlleben likens this to a social security system.

Peter Wohlleben

It is therefore beneficial for these trees to grow close to each other so that they can share resources. Foresters in the north of Germany have found that beech forests are more productive when the trees are “packed together” (Hidden Life p.16).  If nearby trees are cleared out, then trees that are struggling send out a message for help that goes unheard.  Other trees create a lot of sugar and grow better but they aren’t long-lived.  “This is because a tree can only be as strong as the forest that surrounds it,” writes Wohlleben (p. 17).  The weaker trees with no help are eventually killed by disease or insects.

Wohlleben has spent decades observing forests

As well, when holes are created in the forest canopy by cutting down trees, the sun and wind dries out the forest floor and changes the moist, cool microclimate that trees depend on for health.  Beech trees’ “well-being depends on their community, and when the supposedly feeble trees disappear, the others lose as well.” (p. 17)  This story challenges the accepted idea of survival of the fittest, the story of competition for resources that is a part of the old paradigm of hierarchy and scarcity.  Wohlleben describes why diversity, not monoculture is what creates security for ancient forests. 

Peter Wohlleben was born in 1964 in Bonn, Germany.  He studied forestry and worked as a forester with the German government for over 20 years.  After observing trees for all this time, he developed his own ideas about how forests work. “To work with trees is my life, “ he writes.  Wohlleben gave up his government job to pursue these ideas and now runs an environmentally friendly municipal piece of woodland in the village of Heummel. He writes and speaks about what he has learned from the trees he loves. You can hear Peter Wohlleben share this information in a short interview.

The Hidden Life of Trees describes how trees feel and communicate. It is full of surprising facts that have been revealed by recent research.  For example, when a tree has it's leaves eaten, it can release a chemical that makes the leaves taste bad.  In addition it can release a wind born scent to warn nearby trees of the threat so they can prepare.  

This is a new story being told about how trees work together and function as communities.  The story is being told by a man who has spent decades observing and learning from these forests.  We have a lot that we can learn from these ancients about how to cooperate and create healthy, sustainable communities and find our place within nature.

Peter Wohlleben  (2015)The Hidden Life of Trees.  Vancouver: David Suzuki Institute.