Forests are wired together underground, and trees use the network to share food

Beneath a forest floor, threadlike fungi connect the roots of different trees into a shared network, trading sugars for minerals with each tree in turn. Research led by Suzanne Simard found that larger 'mother trees' can funnel carbon through this fungal web to shaded seedlings, including ones of other species, effectively subsidising the forest's next generation through a network now nicknamed the 'wood wide web.'

— Suzanne Simard et al., Net transfer of carbon between ectomycorrhizal tree species in the field — Nature, 1997