7.9 Plants in Networks: Intelligent Fungi and Bacteria?

From this study came a bold idea: perhaps entire forests are connected through fungal networks — a huge living web nicknamed the Wood Wide Web.

The idea captured media and public imagination, especially because it seemed to reveal altruism among trees. But current research shows exchanges only between certain connected plants — and the idea of a universal cooperative network remains debated and unproven.

And we must not forget: nature is not only cooperation — it is also competition: between plants, fungi, bacteria, and more.

Even bacteria — the simplest living organisms — can sense their environment through membrane receptors, process information, and act accordingly.

Can we call them intelligent?