Do cooperative guilds of species—like guilds of people in societies—exist? Where multiple tree species are linked by a network for mutual aid, in the way it takes a village to raise a child, despite a risk that there might be cheaters in such guilds. But this sharing would work if our behavior was ruled by steadfast tit for tat, like the two-way transfer between birch and fir and their principle of reciprocity, changing the direction of net transfer over the course of the summer. Quid pro quo. But what about longer-term shifts in trade? Such as when fir eventually grows taller than birch.
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