The Hidden Life of Trees: The International Bestseller

continuous cover forests with careful selective cutting are to silviculture.

So many questions remain unanswered. Perhaps we are poorer for having lost a possible explanation or richer for having gained a mystery.

As I have explained, dead wood is useful because of its role as a nutrient recycler.

That makes fungi the largest known living organisms in the world.

complete collapse of the crowns of deciduous trees because of heavy rain.

Instead, the tree just gets wider (another parallel to many people of advancing years ...). The tree is also not capable of maintaining its mature height for long because its energy levels diminish slowly over the years.

Their enormous networks act as gigantic redistribution mechanisms.

So, the decisive factor in whether the tree has a chance is the size of the wound. Anything much more than an inch is life threatening.

You can see a part of its “lungs.” These are the needles or leaves.