The Wood wide web: popular culture meets complex science
David M Wilkinson, Honorary Professor in Ecology at the University of Lincoln, Honorary Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Nottingham
Thursday 18 September 2025
Lecture Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Date: Thursday 18 September 2025 Edinburgh, from 6:30-7:30 pm – (Tea/coffee and biscuits will be available from 5:30 pm as usual).
After the Lecture: We plan to take the speaker for dinner (~8:00). Let us know at the lecture if you would like to join the party.
Venue: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Science Building, 20a Inverleith Row, EH3 5LR
Venue Note: To access the lecture please enter via the Science Buildings main reception, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR. Note this is NOT the public entrance to the gardens. what3words ///ROPES.DINNER.CLUBS
Title: The Wood wide web: popular culture meets complex science
ABSTRACT: The idea of a mycorrhizal ‘Wood wide web’ has escaped from plant ecology to become part of popular culture, featuring in many popular books and TV documentaries in recent years. Recently several academic papers in high profile journals have challenged the interpretation (or even the existence) of the wood wide web. Surprisingly for academic papers they have particularly focused their criticism on the more popular accounts. I give a personal perspective on these debates, and particularly consider the interaction between the academic research and the popular accounts of this work.
Bio: Dave Wilkinson is an ecologist with wide interests, and taught at Liverpool John Moores University for many years. He is currently Honorary Professor in Ecology at the University of Lincoln, and an Honorary Research Fellow in Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. His 2021 book in the New Naturalist series (‘Ecology and Natural History’) introduced ecological ideas in the context of (mainly) British natural history, and included a discussion of mycorrhizal networks. His most recent book is the second edition of his more technical ‘The fundamental processes in ecology; life and the Earth system’ (Oxford University Press, 2023). He is currently writing a second New Naturalist volume on the natural history of microbes in soils and freshwaters.
