But wait, it gets even more trippy. One of the biggest reasons why the trees need to do this is because when a tree gets attacked by a disease in the spring or early summer, it ends up losing most of its leaves before the fall. Because of this it hasn't yet stored up enough energy to survive the winter, so the tree is likely to either die or else be seriously weakened, and it will definitely die if the same thing happens the next year. The mycorrhizal networks can warn of advance attacks, transmit enough energy to get the tree through the winter if a tree has already succumbed, and maybe even transmit some sort of antibodies as well. The kicker? Most of these tree diseases are other funguses. So the whole thing is really some kind of slow motion LOTR-style epic battle.
It's not just this fungal battle -- my friend, the fire ecologist, explains how fire has existed pretty much since plant life, and therefore plants evolve strategies for handling fire.
Some trees, like pines, make flammable sap to induce fire, and then only grow once a fire has happened -- the ecological niche having been cleared out.
Some trees, like oaks, hate fire, and so mat the forest floor with fire suppressing leaves.
