(outdoor ambience) - nterview] so my rst questi is whats a tree - , what ithe tree (laughin - damn i - th'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 music) (wind whirling) compared to humans, they're old creatures that we scarcely understand. (upbeat music) (wind whirling)

thworld ofines preced the wld in whi humans uld live itakes a setch of imagation tosk, ll, whatoes that wod look le?

(beeping) utdo ambienc [dr. milr] we don't ually sethem until ey're a w years d. you could imagine how lnerablet is in tho arid sos getting ough wat through ose longot summe. 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 d the lier pine rests arthose ples. am interesd in tryingo undersnd how ese treein a mounta environnt torated hioric tural clate chge, because think that cane useful for derstandg what will comin the fure throh the grth rings the woo i can construc the pastlimate and i caknow how ey respoed. so tsee a 5,0 year o tree and to tnk of ho ch it's dured and at is ab to persi under.

in,000 yea, th's been enormous amnt of clate chan. they c't move get awaythey havto stay and facehat come their st, perftly adted to bin one pce. (beeping) ind whirng) (speaking in foreign language)

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[leah] ias sevennd i s with mski grou and i cod rememb them weaving rough thtrees. and i n't know wh happeneto me, t i justemember one point beg lost 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, aot of tis se the pers that i'skiing wh d then a of a suen, my frienwill be ke, (woog)

as like a signaling beacon. you'llet the rerberati om someo else and thene know we're real close tether. it's kinof a cooway of communicing throh the trs witht being le to seeomeo. (outdoormbience) (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.

kn that th is a special ttle heabeat inhe landspe where thesthings ride. 0 years a long timyou know th's 12 tis as olds i am. and you gethe sense history many spits have be here bere, t just han spiri, bumany creures havlived here a they stl live he d i get at sensehat i'm t here ane ever. feel by co, i've enred intohis cathal and the pe are ful walk in d i feelt home because i feel like i'm in this community of a these catures. pbeat muc) (wat drippin

prty much ery day the yea the winr i ski some wa i'm alys in thforest. don't thk that iould 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 myeople, anthey're lling we'rtalking d they'rshowing thgs and i saying, "oy, let'study tt." so, ah, it's constan ck and fth conveation beeen me a these gs. oh, th is real hot. ohwow! it's rlly, reay, really leled. if youo into aold grth forestn is quite dar can be ite shadand you can e littlelants gring in the uerstory seedlin that a kind ofropping .

and there's t a lot of light the bigld trees arcompetin withhose lite seedlis for lit, t they'rable to ve. wellwhy is that if they can't photosynthesize very well? how could they live? [dr. suzne] as sn asou walk a fores st of usook arnd and wgo, when we see th big oldree. anso this e caug my eye. myrth ees are e bigges es andhe oldesones in theorest. we'vbeen ablto trace th tree wod be concted toll theserees arod it. as far as u can se the big oltrees e like t center the hub anthat there nurtung 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. pbeat sic)

when wlook at e patter of the morrhizaletwork, whene actual dissectt and lo at all e mathatical rationshi, it'she same ttern as a neul networ d it's elved for efciency ocommunicion. and at leadsou to thk whe it's kd of lika brain, it's highly coerved stcture that elves becse it wos. (brit upat music if y're to lk for th, then tt reside e communy level. 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 like wdo with urons 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, buthey do ve intelgence a broad sense inhat th are perptive and th receivenformati,