On The eve of the release of Professor Suzanne Simard's new book, Finding The Mother Tree, we sat down with her to find out how trees communicate with each other through a vast underground network - and why this collaboration and connection is so important

Suzanne Simard grew up in the vast forests of British Columbia, Canada, without an innate understanding of trees.

But when she was working in forestry as a graduate student in the early 1980s, she began to question why large areas of old-growth forest were being cut down, but the new plantations to replace them were struggling to survive. So, she began to explore the underground, digging for answers.

Simard, now a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia, has finally discovered a vast underground network of fungi called mycorrhiza that connects trees to each other, allowing them to share resources such as water, nitrogen and carbon, as well as health, nutrient and stress levels.

At the center of this endless network are "mother trees," ancient trees that help maintain and regenerate forests and help their offspring survive.

Since her surprising discovery, Simard's work -- which emphasizes the existence of cooperation rather than competition among trees -- has captured the popular imagination, Became the inspiration for the "soul Tree" in James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar, It was also The inspiration for Patricia Westerford, the main character in Richard Powers' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstory.

In her new book, Finding The Mother Tree: Ahead of Uncovering the Widsom and Intelligence of the Forest, we sat down with Simard to talk about the secret lives of trees and what lessons we can learn about the climate crisis, And how each of us can do what we can to protect our forests.

What was it like growing up in British Columbia?

"My playground is the forest, so I guess my love of trees was deep at the beginning of my life. I have some favorite trees, I would like to climb them; We'll build forts in the forest, too. You don't really realize that trees are your true companions until you leave them.

"Since then, I've watched the virgin BC I grew up in become clear-cut BC - and it's been heartbreaking to watch that happen. When the trees are gone, you'll find how much you love them and how much you need them."

When did you first suspect that trees had a secret life?

"It's a long process. This research grew out of a lifetime spent in the forest, so it was only natural that I ended up with these questions. It wasn't until I got into forestry that I saw problems with the simple plantations we managed that were so different from the forests I grew up in - plantations that weren't as complex and healthy as the virgin forests - that I really started to think seriously about what was going on beneath the surface.

"Trees can live for decades, if not thousands of years, depending on their species, so they live side by side for a very long time." I think it's absurd to think that they can't communicate with each other. The prevailing view at the time was that trees would just rob each other of water, light and nutrients, so the first thing I investigated was, 'What if they share water and nutrients?' '"

Why do you think your discovery has caught the popular imagination in such a colourful way?

"It's very satisfying and interesting. In the '90s and early 2000s, when I first started making these discoveries, I didn't think about it that much. I was actually ready to throw in the towel because I was getting quite a lot of negative feedback from both academia and the forestry community. But when the public started to understand it, people really started to embrace it, because they knew that it was part of who we were. Without the collective, man is nothing; We cannot survive on our own - we are social creatures. It's easy to understand when you think of forests as social creatures; Everyone can see that."

What lessons do you think we can learn from trees? Especially about the climate crisis?

"One of the lessons is that we need to change our thinking about how ecosystems work and how we interact with them. The idea of competition and survival of the fittest has been transformed into man's domination of nature. But that's not right - I've always known that we belong only to the ecosystem, because that's how I was raised. We need to see ourselves as part of these ecosystems; We have a responsibility to nurture the ecosystem, and we have a role to play in this process; We can be agents of positive change rather than agents of destruction.

"The other lesson is that these old trees and old-growth forests are huge carbon reservoirs in terms of climate change. They are also sources of biodiversity - and these two things go hand in hand: the more productive an ecosystem is, the more carbon it stores, and the more biodiversity it has. So it's extremely important to protect these trees and forests."

How can we all do what we can to protect forests?

"Reconnecting with the forest can help each of us understand the forest better." Forests are our life support system - without them, there would be no humans. I think if people understand this more deeply, we can better protect forests. For example, you can make a choice when you vote, and you can give support to conservation groups that protect forests.

"It's important to educate yourself, like the billion tree project is a great idea; Trees are very important. But we also have to think wisely about how we act; We need to understand the ecosystem we're in, otherwise we might plant a bunch of trees and none of them survive, so what's the point? The other thing is, I think people are always looking for quick fixes, quick fixes. A billion tree plan is not a bad idea, but it is no substitute for protecting primary forests."

Have you ever felt overwhelmed or sad about the challenges facing our forests and, more broadly, our planet?

"I'm really overwhelmed. Remember it was the early '90s, and British Columbia was suffering from the mountain pine beetle, a consequence of climate change and our attitude toward forests. The mountain pine beetle has devoured 18 million hectares of forest, an area equivalent to the entire forest area of Sweden. The sea of dead wood is still fresh in my mind, and the pain of facing this kind of death is still deep in my heart. Then the fire broke out. And the wildfires, they're still [destroying our forests] - it's so sad.

"But you can't wallow in grief. When I started studying how ecosystems work, when I understood how they can regenerate -- they can evolve, they can repair -- I began to think that we can actually help ecosystems recover, for example, by saving old mother trees. When I found out, I felt much better.

"I think humanity on Earth is experiencing some level of sadness from climate change, so how are people going to deal with it? In my opinion, the best way to do that is to be an agent of change and to be part of the solution yourself."