The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate — Discoveries from a Secret World

by Peter Wohlleben

It didn’t matter if they were studying a rain forest or the Siberian taiga, it was always the trees that were transferring life-giving moisture into land-locked interiors. Researchers also discovered that the whole process breaks down if coastal forests are cleared.

creating clouds that are twice as thick as the clouds over non-forested areas. The possibility of rain increases, and in addition, about 5 percent of the sunlight is reflected away from the ground. Temperatures in the area fall.

to find out whether this is indeed groundwater or just surface water left over from a heavy shower, reach for your thermometer. Less than 48 degrees Fahrenheit? Then it is indeed a spring.

Another option is to take a walk when there’s a hard frost. Puddles and rainwater will be frozen, while water will still be seeping out of a spring.

In total, a fifth of all animal and plant species—that’s about six thousand of the species we know about—depend on dead wood.

Sleep deprivation affects trees and people in much the same way: it is life threatening. That’s why oaks and beeches can’t survive if we try to grow them in containers in our living rooms. We don’t allow them to get any rest there, and so most of them die within the first year.

trees must have a memory. How else could they inwardly compare day lengths or count warm days?

Tokin writes that the air in young pine forests is almost germfree, thanks to the phytoncides released by the needles.56 In essence, then, trees disinfect their surroundings.

garden lovers are often advised to put a bench under a canopy of walnuts if they want a comfortable place to relax in the garden, because this is where they will have the least chance of being bitten by mosquitoes.

Their thick trunks are like paunches attesting to an orgy of solar indulgence.