An international team of scientists from Switzerland, Canada, the USA, Panama and other countries examined the relationship between the presence of underground fungi and biodiversity in forests. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Communication Biology (CommsBio).
From the tropics to the far north, fungal networks (called mycorrhizae) directly influence which tree species and in what quantities can grow in a given region, experts conclude.
Many forest plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi to cover their roots. Fungal organisms provide trees with nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients and in return receive carbon in the form of sugars and lipids for energy.
Researchers used mathematical models and tree surveys to track the impact of different types of mycorrhizal fungi on biodiversity.
Mycorrhizae are divided into two main types: arbuscular (AM) and ectomycorrhiza (EM). Scientists have found that AM fungi can support almost any type of tree found nearby.
EM fungi, on the contrary, are more “selective” and help only certain types of trees, ignoring unsuitable ones. Thus, EMs promote the clustering of communities of trees of the same species in a particular area. Ectomycorrhizae also have the ability to protect friendly plants from diseases.
Exposure to fungi could greatly increase the number of species living in the forest, scientists say. For example, a forest area the size of 45 football fields in Canada’s boreal forests, where fungal networks are less developed, cannot support more than 10 species of different organisms. However, in a tropical forest of the same size, the number of native species easily exceeds 100.
happened before knownThat fungi can effectively combat environmental pollution with nanoplastics.