Fantastic Fungi and Where to Find Them
What is it about fungi, or mushrooms, that is so enrapturing? Is it their transient and ephemeral nature? Popping up for just a few days and then disappearing without a trace. Or maybe it’s how diverse they are? The different life strategies that they use and the forms that they take on when they finally decide to send that mushroom up through the leaf litter into the chaos that is nature. They’re truly one of the most majestic and mysterious group of organisms on the planet.
Over the past few years, I have become enamored with fungi, spending hours of my days tip-toeing through the forest scanning the ground for any signs of fungal activity. The feeling of finding a mushroom after looking for hours is indescribable, even for the most basic and common species. It’s an almost zen-like activity that brings you closer to the earth and more aware of what’s actually occurring around you. And it’s so rewarding and exciting to find some mushroom that within the next day or so, will be gone without a trace. You were lucky to observe this rare event that many people are not aware of and are likely to be the only person to see it. So you form this intimate relationship with each and every individual that you find. It’s a very spiritual experience to go mushroom hunting. I highly recommend it.
Let’s talk a little natural history about these elusive organisms. I want to focus mainly on the 3 ways that fungi gather energy:
- Saprophytic
- Parasitic
- Mycorrhizal
First and foremost, fungi are heterotrophs. Simply put, they get energy by consuming other organisms much like we do as people. They’ve just seemingly flipped the system. As humans, we eat food that travels down our esophagus into the stomach where it’s digested and we get the nutrients that we need. Fungi, on the other, excrete those digestive juices onto their food to break them down, and then absorb the nutrients. They essentially have their stomachs outside of their “body”.
Saprophytes
Probably the most common life strategy exhibited by fungi, saprophytes (sapro = “rotten”, phyte = “plantlike”) are the decomposers. They take dead and decaying organic matter, e.g. fallen tree, and break it down for nutrients. Without this process, we would be buried under a sea of woody material. Many of these saprophytes include species that cause a variety of rot diseases. The individuals are usually considered “white rot” or “brown rot” fungi. The difference is simple, white rot fungi can digest lignin (what makes plants “woody”), brown rot fungi cannot. The oyster mushrooms pictured above are an example of a saprophytic fungus. They were also very delicious :) (please only consume mushrooms if you are 100% confident in your identification).
Parasites
Fungi giveth and fungi taketh away. Although fungi provide many benefits to both people and ecosystems, many cause diseases to both plants and animals alike. Like any group of organisms, parasites infect their hosts feeding off of them until, ultimately, they die and fungi exhibit this behavior in a variety of ways. Some incredibly cool, but almost disturbing ways. Pictured above is an insect that has been colonized by a species of Cordyceps fungi. This life strategy is bananas. Typically, once an ant is infected, the fungus alters the the ant’s behavior. In some cases, ants are “encouraged” to climb to the top of a stalk of grass. Once near the top, the ant latches its mandibles onto the grass blade to secure itself. What’s the point you might ask? When an ant has made its way to the top and attached itself, the fungus begins to fruit, i.e. “mushrooms” begin to sprout. Being high off the ground allows for the fungus to drop its spores and ensures that they’ll be dispersed properly (spore dispersal is an entirely different topic that I’d definitely like to write about).
Mycorrhizal fungi
Last, but certainly not least, my favorite group, the mycorrhizal fungi (myco = “fungi”, rhizal = “root”). This is a phenomenon that has only recently been looked at and studied in detail and much more remains to be discovered — pretty fitting for such an elusive group. Mycorrhizal fungi are species that share a symbiotic relationship with plant species, meaning both sides of the relationship benefit. By growing around and into the root systems of plant species, these mycorrhizal relationships create a nutrient highway between the fungus and the plant. Plants provide the fungus sugars produced during photosynthesis and plants are able to absorb more water and nutrients (phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium) due to the increased surface area that the fungi growing on the roots provides. Is that not just insane!? Evidence suggests that about 90% of plant species form these mycorrhizal relationships! What are the implications of that? Do plants without mycorrhizal associations do better than those that do? Do they have greater fitness? Better competitors? What about on the other side? Do fungi with perform better than those without? There are so many questions to ask!
One of the most fascinating ideas that has recently been hypothesized is that forests contain “mother trees” (first identified by Suzanne Simard, a forest ecologist at the University of British Columbia). These trees serve as central hubs or a type of command center for massive mycorrhizal networks. Connected through these networks, mother trees are able to provide seedlings (some suggest even the mother trees own children) with nutrients needed to grow. Additionally, it is believed that messages are able to be sent through these networks to notify individuals that a potential threat is in the area, i.e. insect parasite. Even more so, it is believed that different plant species are able to communicate through these networks!
There’s a type of communication or consciousness to these organisms that we as people do not and cannot currently understand. But that’s what makes fungi so captivating and interesting. There’s so much that we don’t know about them and I’m incredibly excited to keep learning more and more about them. Hopefully I’ll inspire whoever might be reading this to dive into this crazy world of fungi. We need more curious people.
