Citation
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
TL;DR
Forests function as collaborative networks, not competing individuals
Simard's book synthesizes decades of mycorrhizal network research into an accessible narrative, popularizing the 'Wood Wide Web' concept and mother tree hypothesis. The book traces her journey from early radioactive tracer experiments to comprehensive understanding of forest networks as cooperative systems.
For business readers, the book provides rich biological context for network thinking - how shared infrastructure enables coordination, why hubs matter, and how forests maintain cooperation over evolutionary time scales.
Key Findings from Simard (2021)
- Forests function as collaborative networks, not competing individuals
- Mother trees (large, old trees with extensive connections) support seedlings through resource sharing
- Hub trees are keystones - their removal fragments networks
- Kin recognition allows preferential resource sharing with genetic relatives
- Forest management should preserve network connectivity, not just individual trees