Did you know that trees communicate?

Although scientists don’t fully understand how it happens, for a hundred years we have known that trees in close proximity create gaps among themselves to avoid touching one another. This arboreal reticence to intrude on one another is known as “crown shyness”.

Is it to prevent insects from moving from tree to tree? Is it to allow light to penetrate to the forest floor?

We know it happens mostly with same species, but it can happen with mixed species woodlands, too.

Poets have often referred to the whisperings of trees, but now you know it’s more than a metaphor.