(outdoor ambience) - nterview] so my rst questi is whats a tree - , what ithe tree (laughin - damn i - at's tou one, acally. at is thtree? (pianopbeat muc)

human beings have been living at the edge of forests for a very, very long time. (upbeat music) (wind whirling) the edge of the forest is where we belong. (upbeat music) (wind whirling) trees are both familiar and alien. (upbeat music) (wind whirling) th don't gany plac ry fast,ut they dure.

(upbeat sic) ind whirng) compared to humans, they're old creatures that we scarcely understand. (upbeat music) (wind whirling)

the rld of pes preced the wor in whi humans uld live itakes a setch of imagation tosk, ll, whatoes that wod look le?

(beepi) (odoormbience) [dr. milr] we don't ually sethem until ey're a w ars ol you could imagine how lnerablet is in tho arid sos getting ough wat througthose lo hot sumrs. buif mom w living therfor 4,00years, then that was a pretty good place. the estimates are less than 1% of survival, but if they survive those first few years, they're pretty good to go. and really there isn't much that kills the bristlecone. (upbeat music) (wind whirling)

as an historical ecologist, i think a lot about times when there were trees, but no humans.

and so sometimes i'll go to places where there was before humans in my mind, because i know those places well from studying them where pines evolved and the bristlecones and the mber pin forests e those aces. am interestein trying tundersta how ese treein a mounta environnt torated hioric tural clate chge, because think that cane useful for derstandg what will comin the fure thugh the owth ringof the wd. i can constrt the pa climate and i n know h they resnded. soo see a 000 yearld tree and tohink of w much it'endured anwhat is le to perst under

5,000 yrs, at's beean enormous ount of imate chge. they c't move get awaythey havto stay and fa what cos. theibest, peectl apted toe in onelace. (beeping) ind whirng) (speaking in foreign language)

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peaking foreignanguage)

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(outdoormbiee)

- [leah] was sev and i s with mski grou and i uld remeer them weavinthrough e trees. and i n't know wh happeneto me, bui just rember atne int beinlost in the ees. and just sathere wooing f a little ile d realizg that i was alone (odoor ambnce) growg up treskiing, you had toave a ca. i, a l of timese the pers that i'skiing wh d then a of a suen, my frienwill be ke, (woog)

as like a signaling beacon. you' get theeverberaon from somne else and thene know we're real close tether. it's kinof a cooway of communicing throh the trs witht being le to seeomeo. utdoor aience) (upbeat music) - [dr. suzanne] the forest is a holistic place. it's a place that's connected. since i was a little kid, i played in forest like this. they're like treasure chest full of biodiversity, of genes, of species that are really, really old.

knowhat thiss a ecial ttle heabeat in t landsca where these ings rese. 0 years a long timyou know that 12 tis as olds i am. and soou get t sense ofistory ofany spirs have be here bere, nojust hum spirits bumany creures havlived here a they stl live he d i get at sensehat i'm t here ane ever. feel by me, i've tered in this caeral and the pe are ful i lk in ani feel ahome because i feel like i'm in this community ofll thesereatures pbeat muc) (wat drippin

pret much evy day ofhe year inhe wintei ski inome way, i'm alys in thforest. i n't thinthat i wld haveeen a scntist less i h these coections self ing out re is source oth science let's ave scrah th a raiactive g d the tr will ta up thatas-- thesare my pple, anthey're lling we'rtalking anthey're owing me thin and i'maying, "oy, let'study tha" so, ah, it's constan ck and fth conveation betwn me a these gs. oh, th is real hot. oh, w! it's reay, reall ally labed. if you ginto an d grth forestn is quite dar can be ite shadand you can e littlelants gring in the uerstory seedlin that a kind ofropping .

and the's noa lot of light the bigld trees arcompetin with tse littl edlingfor ligh but they're able to live. well, why is that if they can't photosynthesize very well? how could they live? - r. suzan] as soo as y walk in forest, mo of us lk arnd and wgo, en we see th big oldree. anso this e caug my eye. myrth ees are e bigges es and t oldesones in theorest. we've en able trace thisree woulbe concted to a theserees arod it. far as u can se the big oltrees arlike t center the hub and at they' nurturi the young edlings ound the as the seed is germinating, the mother tree is communicating with the seed.

sometimes in a really dense shaded forest, those seedlings can sit there for a hundred years and just be feeding off the mother tree, waiting for a little gap to open up for a tree to fall over a branch to fall, just waiting patiently, just waiting my time will come. (lauing) ind whirng) this fungal highway is kind of like a direct way to communicate. so you can think of the network is kind of like an internet or a bunch of telephone lines

and the trees will call each other up and say, "hey, did you know that there's an insect over here?" or, "hey, i got some extra nitrogen do you want some." (upbeat music) ey commucate all kis of this. they cmunicatebout poins. ey commucate abo incts and seases. theyommunica about resour availility. they c communite about their resses, eir happess, or wheth they're plete orot. (ueat musi when yore skiin rough the forest you kn, there'still, this comnications going between ese tree the winr, it's vermuch ali. (upbeat music)

when we ok at thpattern of the morrhizaletwork, whene actual dissectt and lo at all e mathematical rationshi, it the sampattern as a neul networ anit's evoed for effiency of mmunicatn. and at leadsou to thk whe it's kd of lika brain, it's highly coerved stcture thatvolves bause it rks. (brit upbe music) ifou're toook for at, then tt reside e commity leve it not in e didual trelevel,

it's actually at the forest level. and then i started thinking about the materials that are moving through that network. when we look at the actual compounds, it turns out that some of them are exactly the same as neurotransmitters that are in our brains. intellence is wo that wescribed to hans and imals, d we tento assocte it with nerus syste and bras. plts don'tave nervs system d they d't have ains likee do wit neurons d axons. in the aditionasense of if wrestrictur thghts of telligen the phycal braiand the phical nerus syste will theyeah, no plts don'tave that trs don't ve that, t they dhave intligence a broad sense that th are perptive and th receivenformati,