SUZANNE SIMARD- FOREST ECOLOGIST

Most people look at a forest and see trees reaching for the sky. Suzanne Simard sees trees holding hands underground.

- Jeanne Panek

Simard is a well-known forest ecologist—a scientist studying forest patterns and relationships. She works at the University of British Columbia in Canada and is the author of the bestselling book Finding the Mother Tree.

With her research, Simard has followed tree roots to an astounding new possible discovery, that trees share and communicate through an underground network. Her science inspired the Tree of Souls in the movie Avatar and has forever changed the way we think about forests.

CAN YOU TAKE US ON A WALK-THROUGH A FAVORITE FOREST?

When you walk through a forest, usually you follow a trail. But if you get off the trail, you end up in a much wilder place, with soft mosses and scratchy bushes. Listen for an owl. Watch a deer bounding by. Then, sit with the trees. They're all shapes and sizes. Some are hundreds of years old. But you might see trees your age, too, with their moms, dads, and grandparents all around you. When you feel the connection to these trees as your own family, you are suddenly part of the forest.

YOU DISCOVERED SOMETHING REMARKABLE ABOUT THE FOREST.

My research is about exploring the below ground world. As a kid, I loved playing in dirt, even eating it. I love everything about soil. All kinds of teeny organisms live underground, creating the soil food web. It's made up of billions of creatures including a group of fungi called mycorrhizae, attached to tree roots. Mycorrhizae [mikeo-RISE-ay] literally means "fungus-root." We've known these fungi and roots depend on each other. Mycorrhizae collect soil nutrients for trees. In exchange, the trees give them carbon sugars they've made through photosynthesis. [Photosynthesis is the process that plants and other organisms use to convert sunlight, water, and CO2 into sugars.]