The world needs to embrace and appreciate the importance of fungi. We present their significance as medicines, building materials, and food sources, as well as their intricate connections with our environment and forest organisms.
Recent research has revealed that the extensive network of fungal roots, called mycelia, plays a remarkable role in capturing carbon dioxide emissions. Astonishingly, it has been found that mycelia alone absorb a staggering one-third of the annual carbon dioxide emissions on Earth.
Fungi have been essential for terrestrial life for over 450 million years, and they might have even produced the earliest large-scale land-based organism in the form of towering fungal spires reaching several meters in height.
An international team of researchers has synthesized data from numerous studies on plant-soil processes. Their findings demonstrate that plants transfer over 13 gigatons of CO2 to fungi every year, transforming the soil beneath our feet into the world’s largest carbon sink—surpassing even the oceans in its capacity.
This discovery presents a potential solution for effectively managing fossil fuel emissions and should be seriously considered in biodiversity and conservation policies, according to the researchers.
Co-author Professor Katie Field from Sheffield University described this revelation as a “blind spot” in global carbon modeling—one of many that have been identified, although it is certainly not the first one.
“The numbers we’ve uncovered are jaw-dropping. When we’re thinking about solutions for climate we should also be thinking about what we can harness that exists already,” said Dr. Field.
That’s a very valid point. Mycelium has the remarkable ability to grow rapidly and simultaneously produce mushrooms as a viable food source. Currently, they have the potential to be the most effective carbon storage solution available to humans.
When mycelia from different individual organisms come together, they form expansive structures that have been aptly referred to as the “Wood Wide Web.” These structures possess the astonishing capability of holding up to 30,000 times their own mass in water and nutrients. Additionally, they serve as conduits for medicinal substances, which they exchange with plants in return for sugars through the Wood Wide Web.
Notably, the largest known organism on Earth is a fungal mat that has thrived for 2,000 years, covering an extensive area of over 2,000 acres in Oregon.
“More needs to be done to protect these underground networks—we already knew they were essential for biodiversity. Now we’ve even more evidence they are crucial to the health of our planet,” Dr. Field said.
“Understandably, much focus has been placed on protecting and restoring forests as a natural way to mitigate climate change,” Dr. Heidi Hawkins of Cape Town University also said. She added that relatively little focus has been made by experts when it comes to understanding mycorrhizal structures.
“We do know that it is a flux, with some being retained in mycorrhizal structures while the fungus lives – and even after it dies. Some will be decomposed into small carbon molecules and from there either bind to particles in the soil or even be reused by plants,” she said.
The researchers are currently studying the duration of carbon storage by fungi and are actively exploring the ways it enhances ecosystems. They emphasize that there is still a vast amount of knowledge to be gained about the complete range of functions performed by mycorrhizal structures, which are supported by mycelia, within global systems.
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