Conservation scientists are also making exciting new discoveries of the importance of fungi to forests and forest health.  A vast underground fungal network (“mycorrhizal network”), connects individual trees and plants to transfer water, nitrogen, carbon, and other minerals.  Mycelium are incredibly tiny “threads” of the greater fungal organism that wrap around or bore into tree roots – together they make up the mycorrhizal network.  Some scientists suggest this transfer of resources belowground is the way trees cooperate with one another, but others caution this claim is premature.  Regardless, understanding the role fungi play in forest ecosystems is a compelling area of research.  The huge task of mapping fungal subterranean networks is underway by the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and others to better understand how fungi shape these ecosystems.

Sometimes helpful, other times deadly, fungi have shaped life on Earth for over a billion years. They are in the food we eat and air we breathe, and more than 90% of plants need them for water and nutrients.  It is fascinating that fungi as a genus are more closely related to humans and other animals than to plants.  Both animals and fungi cannot create their own energy and basic cellular materials from an energy source in the environment (in contrast to plants, which can harness sunlight).  Instead, fungi exist by one of three ways: either decomposing other organic matter, parasitizing a living host (think potato blight and athlete’s foot), or becoming beneficial partners with other organisms, especially plants. 

Even though these remarkable organisms are recognized as their own kingdom on the tree of life, only a small fraction of fungi are known to scientists.  Some scientists estimate there are at least 5 million species of fungi on the planet, but only about 150,000 have been identified and classified in a family tree.  There is so much more to discover!