The area of the Dolomites where the study took place – credit Monica Galgiano

More evidence that trees display group cognition and communication has arrived from the Dolomites where a multidisciplinary team monitored a forest during a solar eclipse.

Their research witnessed two things, that the trees of the forest synchronized bioelectrical activity during the eclipse, and that the process of synchronization was started and directed by the eldest trees—a full 14 hours before the eclipse even started.

The results of their experiment, which was published in Royal Society Open Science, demonstrate both the incredible value of old trees to the forests in which they live, but also the extent to which our woody cousins respond to their environment.

Using rugged, custom-built, low-power sensors deployed across a forest in the Dolomites, the interdisciplinary team—comprising experts from Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Australia—recorded simultaneous bioelectrical responses from multiple trees.

Charged molecules travel through the cells of all living organisms, transmitting electrical signals as they go. Collectively, this electrical activity is known as the organism’s “electrome,” and the scientists set out to observe this phenomenon during the hour-long eclipse.

Their idea was simple: an eclipse is a profound event that inspires awe and collective behavior in both humans and other animals. This, then, would be the best opportunity to see whether trees can react collectively. Though some have theorized that trees can communicate through other methods like shadow and odors, bioelectrical signals are the only known way a tree interacts with its environment in a manner that resembles dialogue.

“By applying advanced analytical methods—including complexity measures and quantum field theory—we have uncovered a deeper, previously unrecognized dynamic synchronization not based on matter exchanges among trees,” said Professor Alessandro Chiolerio, a lead-author on the study which was conducted in Paneveggio, in the Italian Dolomites region.

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“We now see the forest not as a mere collection of individuals, but as an orchestra of phase correlated plants.”

The electrical activity of all three trees became significantly more synchronized around the eclipse—both before and during the one-hour event. The two older trees in the study, about 70 years old, had a much more pronounced early response to the impending eclipse than the young tree. This suggests older trees may have developed mechanisms to anticipate and respond to such events, similar to their responses to seasonal changes, since solar eclipses occur on a cycle as well.

Bioelectrical waves were recorded traveling between the trees as well.

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Additionally, the team attached electrodes to several stumps from trees that had been devasted by a storm from the previous year. They also showed bioelectric synchronization, although at a lower level, suggesting they were still alive and participating.

“This is a remarkable example of the wood wide web in action, and we think that it’s going to inspire new science in this direction, but also has deep ramification on how we deal with conservation: it reinforces the idea that the old trees cannot simply be replaced by replanting, they need to be protected because they hold ancestral memories that allow for resilience and adaptation,” said co-author Monica Gagliano in a video produced by Southern Cross University, whose scientists participated on the study.

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