EVOGENE seminar: Justine Karst

Decay of the wood-wide web?

Abstract: The ‘wood-wide web’ holds that all trees in a forest are physically connected belowground by fungi, and that these fungi serve as passive conduits for the beneficial flow of resources and signals among the networked trees. Through these fungal networks, ‘Mother trees’ recognize and warn related seedlings of danger. Though widely appealing and massively popular, I will explain why this story does not survive scientific scrutiny.

Food will be served from 12.00 while the talk starts 12.15.

Here is some relevant reading/background information:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-01986-1
 

https://undark.org/2023/05/25/where-the-wood-wide-web-narrative-went-wrong/

Justine Karst, Associate Professor, University of Alberta, Canada