Underappreciated Fungi

Sadgi

Apparently we don't know a lot about mushrooms, lichens and fungi to understand how important they are. Now, we know that the fungal networks increase the nutrient and water absorption of plants which form symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungi. The magnitude increase is huge, apparently "beyond what soil can provide". And there are a lot of plants which tune in to this network, about 90%.

Happygi

It is a bit better now, with more focus on protecting fungi and also learning about them. It is kind of hard to learn about fungus because, well, they are kind of invisible. But we now know just how important the fungal networks they form are. The networks seem to "draw carbon from plants in exchange for nutrients". Cool. The article goes into way more depth but the gist of it is that every ecosystem has a fungal element sustaining it in some form or way, whether it is

• through the fungal network
• or through endophytic fungi which live between and within the cells of almost all vascular plants

And even in our drugs like penicillin and anti-biotics. Also not all fungi species do the same thing, some break down rocks and recycle nutrients, others sequester (remove) carbon.

I think it is great that they are now officially recognized for protection.

References

https://e360.yale.edu/features/fungi-kingdom

Stuff to Check Out

• Entangled Life