103
" ... když ke kapce vody, v níž žijí prvoci, přidáme nepatrné množství rozemletého smrkového či borovicového jehličí, živočichové ve vteřině pomřou. Díky fytoncidům, které jehličí vylučuje, je vzduch v mladých borových lesích téměř sterilní. Stromy dokáží své okolí doslova vydezinfikovat. To ale ještě není všechno. Ořešáky bojují látkami, obsaženými ve svých listech, proti hmyzu, a sice tak účinně, že můžeme dát záhradkářům nasledující doporučení: pokud zatoužíte po útulné lavičce, rozhodně ji postavte pod koruny ořešáků. Tam je pravděpodobnost, že vás štípne komár, nejmenší. "
― Peter Wohlleben , The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
104
" Incidentally, that is why you can’t rely on moss if you want to figure out compass directions. In climates where there is rain year round, moss supposedly indicates the weather side of the tree, where the trunk gets wet when the rain hits it; however, in the middle of the forest, where the wind is stilled, rain usually falls vertically. In addition, each tree is bent in a slightly different direction, so if you were to orient yourself according to moss, you’d only end up confused. "
― Peter Wohlleben , The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
105
" When they left, the entire ecosystem changed. Elk herds in the park increased their numbers and began to make quite a meal of the aspens, willows, and cottonwoods that lined the streams. Vegetation declined and animals that depended on the trees left. The wolves were absent for seventy years. When they returned, the elks’ languorous browsing days were over. As the wolf packs kept the herds on the move, browsing diminished, and the trees sprang back. The roots of cottonwoods and willows once again stabilized stream banks and slowed the flow of water. This, in turn, created space for animals such as beavers to return. "
― Peter Wohlleben , The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
112
" Every day in summer, trees release about 29 tons of oxygen into the air per square mile of forest. A person breathes in nearly 2 pounds of oxygen a day, so that's the daily requirement for about ten thousand people. Every walk in the forest is like taking a shower in oxygen. But only during the day. Trees manufacture large amounts of carbohydrates not only to lay them down as wood but also to satisfy their hunger. Trees use carbohydrates as fuel, just as we do, and when they do, they convert sugar into energy and carbon dioxide. During the day, this doesn't affect the air much because after all the additions and subtractions, there is still that surplus oxygen I just mentioned. At night, however, the trees don't photosynthesize, and so they don't break down carbon dioxide. Quite the opposite, in fact. In the darkness, it's all about using carbohydrates, burning sugar in the cells' power-generating stations, and releasing carbon dioxide. But don't worry, you won't suffocate if you take a nighttime ramble! A steady movement of air through the forest ensures that all the gases are well mixed at all times, and so the drop in oxygen near the ground is not particularly noticeable. "
― Peter Wohlleben , The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
117
" It's true that some of this carbon dioxide does indeed return to the atmosphere after a tree's death, but most of it remains locked in the ecosystem forever. The crumbling trunk is gradually gnawed and munched into smaller and smaller pieces and worked, by fractions of inches, more deeply into the soil. The reain takes care of whatever is left, as it flushes organic remnants down into the soil. The farther underground, the cooler it is. And as the temperature falls, life slows down, until it comes almost to a standstill. And so it is that carbon dioxide finds its final resting place in the form of humus, which continues to become more concentrated as it ages. In the far distant future, it might even become bituminous or anthracite coal. "
― Peter Wohlleben , The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World