Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds Lecture: Suzanne Simard

In the 2017 Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds lecture, Dr. Suzanne Simard (professor of at the University of British Columbia) discusses her research on northwest forest ecology. Simard focuses on the below-ground fungal networks that connect trees and facilitate underground inter-tree communication and interaction. Her findings have established that these forest networks mimic human neural and social networks. In addition to forests, Simard's research also looks at grasslands, wetlands, tundra, and alpine ecosystems, particularly with regard to climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the breakdown of ecosystems.