The secret 'biological internet' beneath our feet

At Halnaker Hill Farm, we see new signs of nature recovery every day – saplings growing, insects and birds returning, and wildflowers flourishing.

But there’s also a thriving ecosystem taking shape out of sight, under our feet, where the soil is teeming with life.

It’s here that one of the most mysterious and fascinating aspects of nature can be found – a secret communication network powered by fungi.

Fungi in the soil, referred to by ecologists as mycology, have a key role to play in helping plants communicate with each other, so they can adapt to the conditions around them. This underground network, previously stifled by pesticides, ploughing, and the growing of single crops in the farm’s former life of intensive methods, is now springing back to life.

Nick Heasman, ecology consultant to Halnaker Hill Farm, explains: “Mycology is what makes the whole system tick. As the farm is regenerated, we’ll see fungi spreading from one area to the next, building up that underground network. It can be thought of as the ‘biological internet’ – a vast system of communication beneath our feet, through which plants communicate with each other.

“For example, if an oak tree gets nibbled by a moth, it can send a signal through the soil. By the time the moth reaches the next tree, that tree has already started producing tannins, making its leaves unpalatable. That’s resilience in action – nature looking after itself.”

There is still work to do for scientists to fully understand how fungi communicate, and what they might be saying. One recent study, conducted by the University of West England and published in Royal Society Open Science, suggested that there may be a vocabulary of up to 50 ‘words’ that bear a similarity to human speech.

However it may work, it’s important to us that our fungi keep talking, in a way that was more difficult during the intensive farming years.

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“Ploughing, spraying, and applying herbicides and fungicides break the network,” adds Nick. “What we’re doing here is reversing that: sowing a diverse range of plant species, planting trees, reintroducing livestock, and recreating a network of hedgerows will all have a positive impact on the soil – and thus on the fungi within it.”

“We want to get that whole system communicating again, because when it does, the biodiversity that comes off the back of it is phenomenal. The other key benefit is the resilience that fungi can give to soil and to plants in mitigating against climate change and extreme weather events.”

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