I am from Chile and am starting my MSc in the Faculty of Forestry. I have lived all my life in a nature sanctuary in the Andes Mountains where my family manages a wildlife rescue center. Since I was very young I have worked as a wilderness guide in some of the most remote old growth forests of Chile. My experiences have given me a very strong connection with nature and an endless curiosity about it.
A couple years ago, I watched a video featuring professor Suzanne Simard, which showed the complex systems of communication and cooperation between plants. Encountering this concept of plant interaction challenged and changed almost everything that I had been taught up to that moment. Under the guidance of Dr. Simard, I will investigate the role of the “Mother Tree” as the source of the underground flux in the transfer of resources between individual trees. I am intrigued by the concept of legacy in old trees, and how this is transmitted from one generation to the next.