Peter Wohlleben Quotes

#1. So many questions remain unanswered. Perhaps we are poorer for having lost a possible explanation or richer for having gained a mystery. But aren't both possibilities equally intriguing?

Peter Wohlleben

#2. It seems the trees can count! They wait until a certain number of warm days have passed, and only then do they trust that all is well and classify the warm phase as spring. But warm days alone do not mean spring has arrived.

Peter Wohlleben

#3. The real question is whether we help ourselves only to what we need from the forest ecosystem, and - analogous to our treatment of animals - whether we spare the trees unnecessary suffering when we do this. T

Peter Wohlleben

#4. Trees, it turns out, have a completely different way of communicating: they use scent.

Peter Wohlleben

#5. One of the oldest trees on Earth, a spruce in Sweden, is more than 9,500 years old.

Peter Wohlleben

#6. Willows produce the defensive compound salicylic acid, which works in much the same way. But not on us. Salicylic acid, is a precursor of aspirin, and tea made from willow bark can relieve headaches and bring down fevers. Such defense mechanisms, of course, take time.

Peter Wohlleben

#7. We have learned that mother trees recognize and talk with their kin, shaping future generations. In addition, injured trees pass their legacies on to their neighbors, affecting gene regulation, defense chemistry, and resilience in the forest community.

Peter Wohlleben

#8. It appears that nutrient exchange and helping neighbors in times of need is the rule, and this leads to the conclusion that forests are superorganisms with interconnections much like ant colonies.

Peter Wohlleben

#9. The rate of photosynthesis is the same for all the trees. The trees, it seems, are equalizing differences between the strong and the weak.

Peter Wohlleben

#10. If we want to use forests as a weapon in the fight against climate change, then we must allow them to grow old, which is exactly what large conservation groups are asking us to do.

Peter Wohlleben

#11. There are more life forms in a handful of forest soil than there are people on the planet. A mere teaspoonful contains many miles of fungal filaments. All these work the soil, transform it, and make it so valuable for the trees.

Peter Wohlleben

#12. The saliva of each species is different, and trees can match the saliva to the insect. Indeed, the match can be so precise that trees can release pheromones that summon specific beneficial predators.

Peter Wohlleben

#13. The researchers looked at about 700,000 trees on every continent around the world. The surprising result: the older the tree, the more quickly it grows.

Peter Wohlleben