Woulditsurpriseyoutolearnthatlikeanimalstreescommunicatewitheachotherandpassontheirwealthtothenextgeneration?

UBCProfessorSimardexplainshowtreesaremuchmorecomplexthanmostofuseverimagined.AlthoughCharlesDarwinthoughtthattreesarecompetingforsurvivalofthefittestSimardshowsjusthowwronghewas.Infacttheoppositeistrue:treessurvivethroughtheirco-operationandsupportpassingaroundnecessarynutrition"dependingonwhoneedsit".

Nitrogen(氮)andcarbonaresharedthroughmilesofundergroundfungi(真菌)

networksmakingsurethatalltreesintheforestecologicalsystemgiveandreceivejusttherightamounttokeepthemallhealthy.Thishiddensystemworksinaverysimilarwaytothenetworksofneurons(神经元)inourbrainsandwhenonetreeisdestroyeditaffectsall.

Simardtalksabout"mothertrees"usuallythelargestandoldestplantsonwhichallothertreesdepend.Sheexplainshowdyingtreespassonthewealthtothenextgenerationtransportingimportantmineralstoyoungtreessotheymaycontinuetogrow.Whenhumanscutdown"mothertrees"withnoawarenessofthesehighlycomplex"treesocieties"orthenetworksonwhichtheyfeedwearereducingthechancesofsurvivalfortheentireforest.

"Wedidn'ttakeanynoticeofit"Simardsayssadly."Dyingtreesmovenutritionintotheyoungtreesbeforedyingbutwenevergivethemchance."Ifwecouldputacrossthemessagetotheforestryindustrywecouldmakeahugedifferencetowardsourenvironmentalprotectioneffortsforthefuture.

【小题1】Theunderlinedsentence"theoppositeistrue"inParagraph2probablymeansthattrees .

A．competeforsurvivalB．protecttheirownwealthC．dependoneachotherD．providesupportfordyingtrees【小题2】"Mothertrees"areextremelyimportantbecausethey .A．lookthelargestinsizeintheforestB．passonnutritiontoyoungtreesC．seemmorelikelytobecutdownbyhumansD．knowmoreaboutthecomplex"treesocieties"【小题3】Theunderlinedword"it"inthelastparagra