Fungi speak to each other using a language as complex as human language

Have you ever looked at trees swaying in the wind and thought, “I wonder if they can communicate with each other?” Language in the insect kingdom can be complex, such as a bee’s dance; while plants use chemical signals to communicate. But next time, don’t look up into the trees. Better try to look into the dirt, where fungi talk to each other with finesse in their electric language.

Examine a mushroom to hear it speak

Computer scientist Andrew Adamatzky decided to probe mycelium and fungi with electrodes to see if fungi emit some form of electrical communication. It has been previously documented that fungi interact with plant roots through these impulses.

Ghost, enoki, fissured and caterpillar mushrooms were tested in the study. Behind a split gill species, Cordyceps millitaris possessed the second most complex language of the four species analyzed for spike activity patterns. Mushrooms speak in electrical patterns that appear like trains of focused impulses, much like letters in a word.

mycelium. Photo courtesy of Canva.

The structure of mushroom sets

An electrical impulse is like a letter, with a definition for each unique signature. And if the time interval between a series of peaks was zero, Adamatzky assumed that the cluster would be part of the same word in a sentence. Cordyceps had an average of 4.7 counts per cluster, similar to the average word length of 4.8 in the English lexicon.

Fungi use words up to 10 impulses to talk to other fungi in their mycelial network. Three directions of importance for future research were identified in the study. First, you need to understand the different dialects used by different species of mushrooms. It’s also important to understand grammatical nuances that mushrooms use when speaking. Achieving these two goals will be necessary for the final direction of future research.

Much like Karl von Frisch deciphered the language of bees, the language of fungi needs to be classified and fully defined. A complete fungal lexicon complements Paul Stamets’ presentations, which explore the complex mycelial network that functions as the Earth’s natural internet.

Do you think our language was unknowingly influenced by an electrical symbiosis between humans and fungi? And let us know in the comments if you got any new thoughts on the swaying trees.

Sources

1. Adamatzky A. Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity. Open Science of the Royal Society. 9(4):211926.

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