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Ecologists are infecting trees with fungi to make them age prematurely

Many species depend on the cavities inside veteran trees, but such spaces are in short supply. Researchers are exploring ways to make young trees old before their time

By Graham Lawton

14 March 2023

An ancient oak tree with heart rot

Richard Wright

I am in a forest 35 kilometres west of London, meeting someone who is trying to make young trees old. “Old trees form hugely important habitats,” says Lynne Boddy, a mycologist at Cardiff University, UK. “But in Europe in general, including in Britain, we don’t have all that many now.” She is one of a handful of scientists around the world trying to do something about it.

Boddy takes me over to look at a gnarly oak, which is roughly 300 years old. …

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