All trees all over the world form a symbiotic association with below-ground fungi These are fungi that are beneficial to the plants and explore the soil. The fungi send mycelium, a mass of thin threads, through the soil. The mycelium picks up nutrients and water, brings them back to the plant, and exchanges the nutrients and water for a sugar or other substance made by photosynthesis from the plant. AlbertonRecord.co.za
This Win/Win Is a Mutually Beneficial Exchange.
While researching her doctoral thesis some 20+ years ago, ecologist Suzanne Simard discovered that trees communicate their needs and send each other nutrients via a network of latticed fungi buried in the soil – in other words, she found, they "talk" to each other.
Simard showed how trees use a network of soil fungi to communicate their needs and aid neighboring plants.
Since then she has pioneered further research into how trees converse, including how these fungal filigrees help trees send warning signals about environmental change, search for kin and how they transfer their nutrients to neighboring plants before they die.
All trees all over the world form a symbiotic association with below-ground fungi. These are fungi that are beneficial to the plants and explore the soil. The fungi send mycelium, a mass of thin threads, through the soil. The mycelium picks up nutrients and water, brings them back to the plant, and exchanges the nutrients and water for a sugar or other substance made by photosynthesis from the plant.
It's this network that connects one tree root system to another tree root system, so that nutrients and water can exchange between them.
The word "mycorrhiza" describes the mutually-beneficial relationships that plants have in which the fungi colonize the roots of plants. The mycorrhizae connect plants that may be widely separated.
Source: AlbertonRecord.co.za
Check Out This Example of Networking Opportunities.
Sixty-seven Douglas fir trees of various ages were found to be intricately connected below ground by ectomychorrhiza from the Rhizopogon genus. Rhizopogon, which means 'root beard' in Greek, is commonly found living in a symbiotic relationship with pine and fir trees, and thus is thought to play an important ecological role in coniferous forests. Areas occupied and trees connected by Rhizopogon vesiculosus are shaded blue, or shown with blue lines, while Rhizopogon vinicolor colonies and connections between trees are colored pink, or shown by pink lines. The most highly connected tree was linked to 47 other trees through eight colonies of R. vesiculosus and three of R. vinicolor.
Source: NewZealandGeographic
BBC News Trees talk and share resources right under our feet, using a fungal network nicknamed the Wood Wide Web. Some plants use the system to support their offspring, while others hijack it to sabotage their rivals. YouTube/BBCNews
The Wood Wide Web Is Earth's Natural Internet.
While mushrooms are the most familiar part of a fungus, most of their bodies are made up of mycelium. These threads act as a kind of underground internet, now referred to as the "wood wide web" linking the roots of different plants and different species.
By linking to the fungal network they can help out their neighbors by sharing nutrients and information or by sabotaging unwelcome plants by spreading toxic chemicals through the network.
Fungal networks also boost their host plants' immune systems. Simply plugging in to mycelial networks makes plants more resistant to disease.
Trees in forests are not really individuals. Large trees help out small, younger ones using the fungal internet. Without this help, Simard thinks many seedlings wouldn't survive. She found that seedlings in the shade, which are likely to be short of food, received carbon from other trees.
Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes with Suzanne Simard's TED Talk, below.
Source: AlbertonRecord.co.za
"A forest is much more than what you see," says ecologist Suzanne Simard. Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery -- trees talk, often and over vast distances. Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes. Source: TED.com
Simard suggests four simple solutions for more holistic and sustainable forestry that could end the damage caused by clear cutting:
- We need to get out into our local forests more.
- We must save old growth forests as they are the repositories of genes, mother trees and mycelium networks.
- Where we do cut, we must save the 'legacy' mother trees and networks so they can pass their wisdom onto the next generation of trees.
- We must regenerate our forests with a diversity of species.
As more and more information comes to light about the complex relationships existing between trees, we are better equipped to save our forests and help them thrive. Scientists like Simard are helping us change our perspective so that we work in harmony with nature; something that could dramatically alter the trajectory of environmental disaster and bring harmonious outcomes for both humans and trees.
Source: UpliftConnect.com
Reposted with permission from BrightVibes.
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Eye-Catching Designs Made from Recycled Plastic Bottles
waterlust.com / @abamabam
The company sells a range of eco-friendly items like leggings, rash guards, and board shorts that are made using recycled post-consumer plastic bottles. There are currently 16 causes represented by distinct marine-life patterns, from whale shark research and invasive lionfish removal to sockeye salmon monitoring and abalone restoration.
One such organization is Get Inspired, a nonprofit that specializes in ocean restoration and environmental education. Get Inspired founder, marine biologist Nancy Caruso, says supporting on-the-ground efforts is one thing that sets Waterlust apart, like their apparel line that supports Get Inspired abalone restoration programs.
"All of us [conservation partners] are doing something," Caruso said. "We're not putting up exhibits and talking about it — although that is important — we're in the field."
Waterlust not only helps its conservation partners financially so they can continue their important work. It also helps them get the word out about what they're doing, whether that's through social media spotlights, photo and video projects, or the informative note card that comes with each piece of apparel.
"They're doing their part for sure, pushing the information out across all of their channels, and I think that's what makes them so interesting," Caruso said.
And then there are the clothes, which speak for themselves.
Advocate Apparel to Start Conversations About Conservation
waterlust.com / @oceanraysphotography
Waterlust's concept of "advocate apparel" encourages people to see getting dressed every day as an opportunity to not only express their individuality and style, but also to advance the conversation around marine science. By infusing science into clothing, people can visually represent species and ecosystems in need of advocacy — something that, more often than not, leads to a teaching moment.
"When people wear Waterlust gear, it's just a matter of time before somebody asks them about the bright, funky designs," said Waterlust's CEO, Patrick Rynne. "That moment is incredibly special, because it creates an intimate opportunity for the wearer to share what they've learned with another."
The idea for the company came to Rynne when he was a Ph.D. student in marine science.
"I was surrounded by incredible people that were discovering fascinating things but noticed that often their work wasn't reaching the general public in creative and engaging ways," he said. "That seemed like a missed opportunity with big implications."
Waterlust initially focused on conventional media, like film and photography, to promote ocean science, but the team quickly realized engagement on social media didn't translate to action or even knowledge sharing offscreen.
Rynne also saw the "in one ear, out the other" issue in the classroom — if students didn't repeatedly engage with the topics they learned, they'd quickly forget them.
"We decided that if we truly wanted to achieve our goal of bringing science into people's lives and have it stick, it would need to be through a process that is frequently repeated, fun, and functional," Rynne said. "That's when we thought about clothing."
Support Marine Research and Sustainability in Style
To date, Waterlust has sold tens of thousands of pieces of apparel in over 100 countries, and the interactions its products have sparked have had clear implications for furthering science communication.
For Caruso alone, it's led to opportunities to share her abalone restoration methods with communities far and wide.
"It moves my small little world of what I'm doing here in Orange County, California, across the entire globe," she said. "That's one of the beautiful things about our partnership."
Check out all of the different eco-conscious apparel options available from Waterlust to help promote ocean conservation.
Melissa Smith is an avid writer, scuba diver, backpacker, and all-around outdoor enthusiast. She graduated from the University of Florida with degrees in journalism and sustainable studies. Before joining EcoWatch, Melissa worked as the managing editor of Scuba Diving magazine and the communications manager of The Ocean Agency, a non-profit that's featured in the Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Coral.
Literally everything that passed Greenfield's lips in the last year was something he either grew in his gardens or he went out into nature and harvested. He hopes his journey will inspire others to live with more happiness, health and sustainability.
Rob Greenfield Wants to Inspire People to Question Their Food
For some time, Greenfield had been wrestling with the question: is it possible to step away from our globalised industrialised food system, from all the destruction that it causes to the world, to other species, to other people, and step away from that and actually produce all of his own food? So he decided to find out if it was possible.
Well, one year later and Greenfield is happy to announce that he still here and he is healthier than when he started, and happier that he did it.
Another element of the experiment is that he wants to inspire people to question their food. Where does it come from? How does it get to them? What is the impact it has on the Earth, other species and ultimately themselves?
Greenfield displays "TOO MUCH HONEY" on day 357 of growing and foraging 100 percent of his food. Rob Greenfield / Facebook
And if they question it and they don't like the answers that they find, then Greenfield hopes they'll change those answers. That they'll change the way they are eating to be in a way that is more beneficial to the Earth, to our communities and to ourselves.
When Greenfield arrived in Orlando, he had no land or gardens of his own, so he had to walk around the community talking to people and ask if they would be interested in him turning their front lawn into a garden. Over a period of six months he made six small gardens around the neighborhood. The deal was that the owners could eat as much food as they wanted from the garden. Now the project is over, however all the gardens are still producing more food.
Rob has "grown over 100 different foods and foraged over 200." Rob Greenfield / Facebook
Greenfield put a lot of thought and effort into this 12 month project. Prior to the year, he began growing and learning how to forage for 10 months. He looked into everything; where he'd get his calories, fats, protein and nutrients.
He grew some 100 different foods in his garden and foraged a further 200 different foods: a variety of over 300 foods, which is extremely diverse by anybody's standards. With salt from the ocean, coconuts from the beach, caught fish, and a variety of herbs from his garden, Greenfield's diet for the 12-months was balanced, healthy, fresh, seasonal, tasty, plastic-free, pesticide-free, and above all, eye-opening.
He will be doing a lot of traveling over the next year so he won't have a garden, but says everywhere he goes he will still seek out locally produced food. Of course he will have to buy food, but he says it's about buying unpackaged foods that don't leave trash behind for future generations.
What I'm driven by… Is living a life where I can wake up and feel good about my life, and I can go to bed and feel good about my life, and where I can hopefully die many years from now and know that my life was honest. It was genuine. I knew my actions and how they affected the world. I want to live a life of truth. But beyond that, I want to spread the truth. I want other people to wake up and I want him to live lives of truth as well.
And that's so that we're living fairly, you know, in a world where we have so much. I think it makes sense for everybody to have enough, not have food systems where in one country we are wasting half of our food and another place people are literally starving today.
I think our society's advanced enough where we can take care of each other. Let's take care of each other. Let's take care of our earth.
Rob shares fresh honey, fruits and veggies from his garden with neighbors. Rob Greenfield / Facebook
Reposted with permission from BrightVibes.
From Bus Stops to Bee Stops
In the Dutch city Utrecht 316 bus stops now have a green roof. They do not only look great, they also help capture fine dust, storage of rainwater and provide cooling in the summertime.
It is one of many measures that could improve Utrecht's air quality. Did you know that after smoking, an unhealthy environment (including bad air quality) is the second cause of diseases in the Netherlands?
Watch the video at the bottom of this article.
More Biodiversity: The green roofs of Utrecht's bus stops have also become bee stops and contribute to the city's biodiversity, supporting insects like honey bees and bumblebees.
Sedum Plants: The roofs mainly have sedum plants. They are maintained by municipal workers who drive around in electric vehicles.
Better Buses
Recently Utrecht has replaced 10 diesel buses for electric buses. Utrecht aims to only operate CO2 neutral buses by 2028. In the meantime, Utrecht incentivizes bus drivers to adapt to a more environmentally friendly driving style. The buses register how efficient and comfortable each bus driver operates the bus, and based on how well they drive, they can "win" prizes the cleaner, more comfortable and safer they drive.
More Electric Buses: Utrecht is expanding the number of buses powered by electricity. The electricity used by Utrecht comes from Dutch windmills.
Your Own Green Roof: The citizens of Utrecht are incentivized to transform their own roofs into green roofs too and can apply for special subsidies.
And How About Bee Stings?
Speaking from personal experience, the bees are attracted by the plants and flowers on the roof, not by the people sitting underneath the roof. And as you can read here, in general bees are not aggressive at all. They are often mistaken for the more aggressive wasps, but there really is no need to fear these busy bees on these bus stop green roofs.
Reposted with permission from our media associate BrightVibes.
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