We trek into the ancient old-growth forest where the trees reveal an ecological parable: A forest is a mightily interwoven community of diverse life that runs on symbiosis. With: Doctors Suzanne Simard and Teresa Ryan, ecologists whose work has helped reveal an elaborate tapestry of kinship, cooperation and mutual aid.

This is an episode of Nature’s Genius, a Bioneers podcast series exploring how the sentient symphony of life holds the solutions we need to balance human civilization with living systems. ⁠Visit the series page to learn more.⁠

Featuring

Dr. Sm’hayetsk Teresa Ryan is Gitlan, Tsm’syen. Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Science Lecturer at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry, Forest & Conservation Sciences. As a fisheries/aquatic/forest ecologist, she is currently investigating relationships between salmon and healthy forests.

Dr. Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and author of the bestselling, Finding the Mother Tree, is a highly influential, researcher on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence.

Resources

⁠Forest Wisdom, Mother Trees and the Science of Community⁠ | Bioneers Podcast

⁠Suzanne Simard – Dispatches From the Mother Trees⁠ | Bioneers 2021 Keynote

⁠Suzanne Simard – Dealing with Backlash Against Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change⁠ | Bioneers 2024 Keynote

⁠The Wood Wide Web: The Intelligent Underground Mycelial Network ⁠| Bioneers interview with Suzanne Simard

⁠Unraveling the Secrets of Salmon: An Indigenous Exploration of Forest Ecology and Nature’s Intelligence⁠ | Bioneers interview with Teresa Ryan

⁠Teresa Ryan: How Trees Communicate⁠ | Bioneers 2017 Keynote

⁠Deep Dive: Intelligence in Nature⁠

⁠Earthlings: Intelligence in Nature⁠ | Bioneers Newsletter

Credits