Tree Talk

In August 1999, Kathy Steppe installed a number of sap flow sensors on a beech tree as part of her doctoral research at Ghent University. During that summer’s total solar eclipse, she gained new insights into the inner workings of trees and plants. 

Since Professor Steppe has been working on the development of the Tree Watch system, a setup of hypersensitive sensors, allowing her to measure plants’ transpiration, growth, shrinkage, and internal water dynamics with great precision. Kathy’s team interprets this data as the plant’s heartbeat, a biological indicator of its health and resilience. 

This ingenious system has become a go-to tool within the “speaking plant” concept, in which the plant can literally tell us what it needs to function optimally. Among other things, the system is used for sustainable irrigation to help crops grow more efficiently, and it forms the beating heart of bio-air conditioning systems that will regulate the indoor climate of public buildings in the near future. The Tree Watch network also provides clear insight into the resilience and vulnerability of our forests during increasingly intense heat waves and can help us in the fight to preserve our precious green lungs. 

Tree Talk portrays Professor Steppe as the driving force behind this groundbreaking research, from the spark that ignited during a solar eclipse to the effective application of revolutionary ideas. The documentary draws you into the inner world of trees and plants and shows how, with the help of sophisticated technology made in Belgium, we can strive for the best possible symbiosis between humans and nature.