Intriguing InTREEnet
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Audience
Primary school -
Learning stage
Stage 2, Stage 3 -
Learning area
Science -
Type
Learning resources
On this page...
Can plants talk? This question has fascinated scientists for a long time and the answer is here. Yes they can, however not in the way you would expect. Talking is all about communication, the process of transmitting information from the sender to the receiver. Plants do not use sound to communicate, like we do, but they use underground fungal networks to talk. This 2-minute video by Scarlett and Sophia gives a great glimpse into the role of mycelium networks into the communication of plant communities.
- Mycelium networks are a build-up of fungi
- The cooperation between species, in this case plants and fungi, is known as symbiosis
- Mycelium networks show the plants in a forest are much more connected to one another than we always thought
- Can you think of other roles fungi play in nature but also for us?
- Can you think of another form of symbiosis in nature?
- What do you call a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment?
About the video
In this video sleek geeks Scarlett and Sophia take us on fascinating travel into the world of the inTREEnet. They explain in a very engaging and contemporary way the function of the symbiosis between trees and Mycelium networks. This relationship is only recently on the radar of scientists and it shows trees are much less passive than we ever thought.
Sponsored by the University of Sydney, the Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize is a national short film competition that encourages school students to communicate a scientific concept in a way that is accessible and entertaining to the public while painlessly increasing their science knowledge. It is intended to support budding young scientists across the nation, who will be our future leaders in research, discovery and communication. You can learn more about the Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize here.
