Podcast, 36 mins
Wood Wide Web: Myth or Science?
We dive into the controversial Wood Wide Web. What is this underground network, and what do researchers really think?
Part of That's Science!
5 Nov 2025 09:30
We take a dive into the Wood Wide Web with Professor Katie Field. Katie takes us through where the theory came from, why it rose so quickly in popularity and why it isn’t exactly what we might think.
Katie Field is a professor or plant - soil processes in The School of Biosciences at the University of Sheffield. She has recently been awarded a Royal Society Fellowship that will fund her research for ten years.
Papers and articles referenced:
- Positive citation bias and overinterpreted results lead to misinformation on common mycorrhizal networks in forests.
- Net transfer of carbon between ectomycorrhizal tree species in the field.
- The ties that bind.
- Photosynthate transfer from an autotrophic orchid to conspecific heterotrophic protocorms through a common mycorrhizal network.
- Underground signals carried through common mycelial networks warn neighbouring plants of aphid attack.
- Herbivore-driven disruption of arbuscular mycorrhizal carbon-for-nutrient exchange is ameliorated by neighboring plants.
Credits
- Host: Tabby Taylor Buck (Freelance Content Creator)
- Guest: Professor Katie Field (Professor of Plant-Soil Processes at the University of Sheffield)
- Podcast Editor: Tabby Taylor Buck (Content Creator at Imperial College London)
- Video Editor: Sophie Cowell (Freelance Content Creator)
- Background Image: Professor Katie Field (Professor of Plant-Soil Processes at the University of Sheffield)
- Produced by: Shaun Oliver (Marketing and Communications Manager at the University of Sheffield)
- Produced by: Tabby Taylor Buck (Content Creator at Imperial College London)
- Support from: David Heath (Digital Engagement Officer at the University of Sheffield)
