L’ARBRE QUI CACHE LA FORÊT – LE CHÊNE D’EUROPE

The European Oak – Episode 5
From Brittany to the edge of the Urals, in the most widespread temperate forest on the planet, stands a legendary tree: the oak, once considered a gateway to the kingdom of the gods.
Like other trees, it loses its leaves in autumn and sleeps through the winter, only to be reborn in spring. Its trunk and its million leaves form a fortress of exceptional biodiversity, rich in thousands of species. Throughout the year, wood mice, wild boar, squirrels and jays feed on the acorns, helping to renew the tree. Woodpeckers and bats take up residence in its high branches, returning the favour by ridding it of insects. The lynx, for its part, regulates the roe deer and chamois that prey on its young shoots. Underground, oaks and mushrooms have also made a pact, exchanging vital nutrients. But clear-cutting in favour of softwood monocultures, which are more profitable for the timber industry, is now destroying these ecosystems, driving out species that are unable to survive there. Faced with industrial pressure and the expansion of urban areas, can the “king of trees” remain immortal?