Fungi, Eukaryotic or multinucleate organisms which comply of lichens, moulds, yeast, & of course, mushrooms & toadstools (among many more) all of which belong to the larger genus, fungi. There are estimated to be over 100,000 species, able to grow in conditions of low moisture pH, something bacteria cannot. One significant benefit in relation to anything else is that they able to acquire nutrients from dead organic matter which is significant in human benefit particularly among medicine & biology. Fungi supply plants & insects a pathway to life & have revolutionised the world we see around us; & not to mention our own dependence too. From real world productive measures such as farmland health of soils through mycorrhizal functioning between mycelium & plant roots without which 80-90% of trees & grasses would not survive. Other factors are the fruit of the Fungi, the mushroom, so embedded into world cultures are heavily used today in food diets containing rich abundance of vitamins, nutrition & medicinal benefits as a mushroom in general, but also inc. crafting cheeses, fermentation in bread, wine & beer production & the such.
But now, we are seeing new ways & alternatives to old unsustainable production methods, consumer trends, foods, anything. That is we are seeing fungi used in the breakdowns of plastics, oils & so much more, & providing a material alternative for clothing such as leather, Fungi as an answer to meat in plant based lifestyles & so so much more. It really is showing when Peter Wohlleben said we as homo sapiens know less about the ocean than we do space; & less about the soil than we do the oceans. Silence speaks volumes right, hopefully now in a time of ecological imbalance & uncertainty about the future, we need a radical change. I keep reading new things all the time about "green" alternatives & whilst pushing at a more sustainable & right now more importantly a carbon negative way, I first heard that (carbon negative) from the amazing John Todd a few years ago, oh his book Healing Earth is eye opening. Why is no one talking about carbon negative! I love how John always looks at the positives in things. I remember something in his book about how universities teach students on the problems in the world rather than the solutions; particularly ecologically speaking. He's an ecological bioneer for me. The fact that we are unravelling new ideas is a clear indication we are finally beginning to look at this great kingdom, finally, with a pause of thought.
Okay so the point of writing about "importance of Fungi" which is so hard because it is so broad, but sorta vague too, simply cannot be done in one post. Nevertheless I want to compile it all in one nice neat place & then branch out to specifics (pt 1 of many!). However having said that let's be honest every post I write on Fungi will mention somewhere of it's importance in a given scenario. For example, key points I have either read or watched somewhere have been explained in past posts so far, I do that or I'll forget. So, I'll run through a few. So the first point is not a direct importance in itself but will pose a significant importance to biodiversity around it; & answer questions of dying ecological systems for example. One is "Mapping Fungi" (post 04). The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) are creating a genius innovation whereby identifying mycelium biodiversity hotspots in specific areas around the world. The intention is to conclude the underground ecosystems at risk. Two is without Fungi 80-90% of all plants & trees would be incapable of surviving. There are many reasons for this, but we can take a snippet from post 04 again which points at the actual connection of soil & mycelial roots; the latter providing a key viscous cohesion which actually allows plant/tree roots to garner there way through soil & create the bedrock of a stable root system for the host to grow & maintain it's weight as itself & root network expand. In relation to this post 10 "Re-establishing forests pt1" mentions drought pressures on a tree's network. New roots are effected as the vast majority of water & nutrients are fed right to the youngest roots. The problem with this the host will suffer greatly in terms of growth & protection, something that can massively impact the following year or even choosing to heal an old wound (check to see how long takes) which we know will not be the case as the tree will more than likely prioritise leaf growth; if not this would drastically put the tree in dire jeopardy. We often hear of hub trees nurturing the young beneath them; this is a great analogy of what we see above ground as to what is happening beneath whether that is in root grafts or mycorrhizal connections. Please read the following posts so far which include so much more than these brief points:
Introduction to the wonderful world of Fungi (post 01)
Trees & Fungi: The marvellous relationship | pt 1 (post 02)
Mapping Fungi (post 04)
Re-establishing forests // pt 1 (post 10)
Let's look at just two typical examples of Fungi's importance, both from two nature documentaries I watched. So recently I watched the "Tropics" episode of Green Planet with David Attenborough, where he delved into the topic of Fungi's relationship with forests. In this he went on to describe how once a mushroom releases it's spores whether that is through rupture, gills, teeth, pores etc. rain or wind (or animals) carries the spores throughout a rainforest before attaching to a leaf. When rain returns this disturbs the spores by hitting the leaf & deflecting the spores back into the air & carried into the eventual destination of merging with water vapour to form cloud formations. Water droplets create air flow patterns capable of transporting thousands of spores. Once the next rainfall begins, spores use this as a greater form of dispersal reaching wider areas; from thousands of kilometres to cross continents.
The second example comes from another recently watched nature documentary, this one was a great insect documentary where leaf cutter ants work in there colonies, the largest colonies in the animal kingdom (exc. humans), forging up to 8 million in just a single colony. When gathering leaves, they build to the mounds, whilst burrowing away the leaves, yes not consuming them but burying these to the insides of there colonies whereby fungi breakdown this food source in return for rich nutrients & in doing so form a soft viscosity able enough for the leafcutters to consume.
When looking at plant roots; mycorrhizal fungi can be dependant on delivering up to 80% of plants' nitrogen, & as much as 100 % of a plant's phosphorus (macronutrient) obtained along with other crucial nutrients like zinc & copper, or even such molecules like phospholipids or nucleic acids (which phosphorus is a key component). This is significant finding, we can fathom the humongous ecological role fungi silently plays well out of site; & without this vital element plants would be unable to sustain life. Aggregated soils improve water, air, nutrients, microbes, & organic matter transfer which is crucial in plant growth. More closely, mycorrhizal fungi do this by stranding together hyphae along with producing protein glomalin helping to stick soils together (aggregates); which can resist degradation for up to 40 years; a huge benefit to carbon sequestering as it is trapped between the soils avoiding decay with 30% of carbon to mycorrhizal partners since land arrival. On the contrary, as well remaining dormant & surviving drought, are able to help tolerate plant drought resistance with hyphae scouting moisture within soil micro-pores which the roots are unable to access.
Applying this in a practical application on a wider scale such as the climate, I'm back to Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life again. He mentions Katie Field a professor at university of Leeds says how symbiosis efficiency between fungal & plant organisms dated around 450 million years ago when carbon dioxide levels were several times higher than today; she applied her findings to Benjamin Mills (biochemist at same university) model of predicting climate change & composition of the atmosphere. The findings were that this relationship, whether altered to work at a higher rate together or low, that it was possible to change the global climate; with the amount of oxygen & carbon dioxide - all varied depending on the efficiency of this mycorrhizal exchange. The research concluded that an "accurate depiction of plant-fungal symbiotic systems, informed by high CO2 experiments is key to solving the question of how the first terrestrial ecosystems altered our planet." So this is the first part of Fungi's importance to ecology & many wider impacts, which will be covered in upcoming parts. The more I learn through reading, watching & even photographing about this kingdom the more I want to go deeper & unravel more so I guess look out for part two.
Reference List:
Comments