Latest news with #fungi
Forbes
a day ago
- Science
- Forbes
Fungi, Carbon, And The Climate Risk Map We Missed
Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and ... More their cryptic lifestyles in soil or on dead matter. Fungi include symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi and also parasites. They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as moulds. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology (from the Greek μύκης mykes, mushroom). In the past, mycology was regarded as a branch of botany, although it is now known fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than to plants. Soil fungi may not have ticker symbols but they move carbon at planetary scale, drawing an estimated 13 billion tons of CO₂ into the soil each year, equivalent to nearly a third of global fossil fuel emissions. And yet, they've been almost entirely absent from climate risk models, ESG reports, and conservation agendas. Scientists from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) have released the first-ever high-resolution global maps of mycorrhizal fungal biodiversity, alongside the launch of a groundbreaking public platform called the Underground Atlas. The research, published in the journal Nature, marks the first large-scale scientific application of the global mapping initiative launched by SPUN in 2021. Built using over 2.8 billion fungal DNA sequences from 130 countries, the Atlas reveals a profound oversight: more than 90% of the planet's most diverse underground carbon ecosystems are unprotected. 'Soils store 75% of Earth's terrestrial carbon and contain ~59% of Earth's biodiversity. Yet, we've neglected to map, monitor, and protect fungal systems,' says Dr. Toby Kiers, executive director of SPUN. 'With the Underground Atlas, we're making these invisible networks visible, and therefore measurable.' The Underground Carbon Crisis Mycorrhizal fungi form vast underground networks that connect and sustain over 90% of all terrestrial plant species, channelling nutrients, supporting food systems, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience. Critically, they also draw carbon from plants into the soil, playing a major role in carbon sequestration and climate regulation. But until now, these fungal networks have gone unmapped and unmonitored, and the implications of this are significant. 'We were surprised to learn that fungal biodiversity didn't align with traditional conservation indicators like plant richness,' says Dr. Kiers. 'That means we're missing high-value underground ecosystems that are being degraded or lost, increasing global warming and disrupting nutrient cycles.' The Atlas will also be critical in leveraging fungi to regenerate degraded ecosystems. 'Restoration practices have been dangerously incomplete because the focus has historically been on life aboveground,' said Dr. Alex Wegmann a lead scientist for The Nature Conservancy. 'These high-resolution maps provide quantitative targets for restoration managers to establish what diverse mycorrhizal communities could and should look like." Urgent action is needed to incorporate findings into international biodiversity law and policy. For example, the Ghanaian coast is a global hotspot for mycorrhizal biodiversity. But the country's coastline is eroding at roughly two meters per year and scientists are concerned that such critical biodiversity could soon be washed into the sea. To build the Underground Atlas, SPUN and partners used machine learning models trained on billions of environmental DNA sequences, geospatial data, and climate variables. For the first time, decision-makers, restoration managers, and investors can explore mycorrhizal biodiversity at a 1km² scale, enabling them to identify high-value underground ecosystems that are critical to carbon cycling, crop resilience, and biodiversity. 'This is the most data-rich global compilation of fungal eDNA ever assembled,' says Dr. Michael Van Nuland, SPUN's lead data scientist. 'There just aren't many high-resolution global maps for soil organisms, especially for ecosystem engineers like fungi.' The Atlas can make biodiversity predictions even in unsampled areas, identifying fungal richness, rarity, and degradation risk. This will enable regulators and restoration practitioners to anticipate biodiversity loss and carbon vulnerability at a landscape scale. SPUN is already working with early adopters across conservation, restoration, and legal sectors, and has observer status at the upcoming UN COP16 biodiversity summit. Implications For ESG And Restoration The new maps reveal a critical blind spot for companies and governments relying on nature-based solutions, sustainable agriculture, and biodiversity finance. 'Conservation is about protecting the systems that sustain life, and those systems don't stop at the soil surface,' says Dr. Rebecca Shaw, chief scientist at WWF. 'Healthy fungal networks are tied to higher aboveground biodiversity and greater ecosystem resilience.' Dr. Shaw says the maps should be incorporated into frameworks like the 30x30 biodiversity targets, National Biodiversity Strategies (NBSAPs), and even carbon markets. 'Much like the human gut microbiome transformed medicine, the soil microbiome is essential for planetary health,' she says. 'We must start incorporating these maps into our conservation plans, including at WWF.' She emphasizes that mycorrhizal fungi need to be recognized as a priority in the 'library of solutions' to some of the world's greatest challenges, biodiversity decline, climate change, and declining food productivity. 'They deliver powerful ecosystem services whose benefits flow directly to people. This research should help elevate the protection and restoration of fungi and their networks to the top of conservation priorities.' 'This research maps where fungal communities are thriving or under threat,' she continues. 'There is an opportunity to integrate this knowledge into decision-making about building resilience into our food systems.' These insights are also guiding restoration and corporate risk assessments. SPUN is currently piloting a project with a corporate partner to evaluate the use of mycorrhizal biodiversity assessments in material supply chains. 'This is helping us understand both the economic applications for our data and how these collaborations can contribute valuable information back to our global database,' says Dr. Van Nuland. Soil fungi aren't just climate assets, they're agricultural assets. Research shows mycelial networks can reduce nutrient leaching by up to 50% and supply up to 80% of a plant's phosphorus needs, positioning fungi as vital components of sustainable farming. Incorporating fungal biodiversity into agricultural planning offers a powerful hedge against food system risk, helping companies navigate fertilizer volatility, regulatory pressures, and the growing need to demonstrate climate-resilient practices. For businesses navigating nature risk, this may be the data layer they didn't know they needed. Soil fungi are also being considered in legal and regulatory contexts. 'Underground biodiversity is included in the Convention on Biological Diversity,' says César Rodríguez-Garavito, director of NYU's More-Than-Human Life Program. 'But in practice, policies have focused almost entirely on aboveground ecosystems.' Because fungal networks have been invisible in climate law, activities that disrupt them have gone largely unregulated, with serious consequences for carbon storage, soil health, and legal accountability. 'By making visible the presence of climate-significant soil fungi, this data can help prevent climate impacts that stem from their destruction,' he explains. A litigation toolkit is also in development with NYU Law to help Indigenous communities protect underground ecosystems threatened by extraction. Changing The Climate Narrative Beyond risk and regulation, the Underground Atlas offers something deeper: a new way of seeing and valuing ecosystems. 'Fungi have long been overlooked because they don't fit neatly into our mental models,' says Dr. Merlin Sheldrake, SPUN's director of impact and author of Entangled Life. 'These tools help us overcome that blindness and see fungi as living infrastructure.' The implications go beyond science or policy, they touch how we define intelligence, resilience and value in the natural world. While forests and coral reefs have long symbolized ecological richness, the quiet complexity of underground fungal networks has rarely captured public imagination or financial attention. That's beginning to change. 'When we understand that fungi store carbon, support biodiversity, and regulate water flows, we begin to grasp that protecting them is a matter of long-term value, not just ecological virtue.' Sheldrake argues that these maps are not just analytical tools, they are conceptual ones, helping businesses and governments see what sustainability has missed. Recognizing fungi as climate infrastructure could shift how nature is factored into risk models, insurance products, and even accounting frameworks in the years to come. Dr Van Nuland says that while the current launch represents the project's first major milestone, this is only the beginning. SPUN is currently working on more than 10 additional mapping pipelines that will expand the platform's capabilities, including maps of mycorrhizal carbon drawdown hotspots, underground threat assessments, and restoration potential analyses. 'We're only beginning to explore the economic and ecological uses of this data,' he says. 'We want to discover new applications and we're inviting researchers, funders, and policymakers to help us.' In a world increasingly focused on risk, resilience, and real assets, the lesson is clear: funghi, and the fungal networks beneath our feet, are the billion-ton blind spot we can no longer afford to ignore.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Earth's underground networks of fungi need urgent protection, say researchers
The underground networks of fungi that underpin the planet's ecosystems needs urgent conservation action by politicians, a research organisation has said. Scientists from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (Spun) have created the first high-resolution biodiversity maps of Earth's underground mycorrhizal fungal ecosystems. The research, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, found that 90% of the biodiverse hotspots of mycorrhizal fungi were in unprotected ecosystems. Loss of the ecosystems could lead to reductions in carbon drawdown, crop productivity and ecosystem resilience to climate extremes. Mycorrhizal fungi have 'remained in the dark, despite the extraordinary ways they sustain life on land', said Dr Toby Kiers, the executive director of Spun. 'They cycle nutrients, store carbon, support plant health, and make soil. When we disrupt these critical ecosystem engineers, forest regeneration slows, crops fail and biodiversity above ground begins to unravel … 450m years ago, there were no plants on Earth and it was because of these mycorrhizal fungal networks that plants colonised the planet and began supporting human life. 'If we have healthy fungal networks, then we will have greater agricultural productivity, bigger and beautiful flowers, and can protect plants against pathogens.' Mycorrhizal fungi are found on the roots of plants and help regulate Earth's climate and ecosystems. Its underground networks provide plants with essential nutrients, while drawing more than 13bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year into soils – equivalent to roughly one-third of global emissions from fossil fuels. Spun launched the initiative in 2021 alongside organisations including GlobalFungi, Fungi Foundation, the Global Soil Mycobiome consortium and researchers from around the world to map out the under-researched networks of mycorrhizal fungal. Using machine-learning techniques on a dataset containing more than 2.8bn fungal samples from 130 countries, scientists were able to predict mycorrhizal diversity at a 1km2 scale across the planet. They discovered that only 9.5% of these fungal biodiversity hotspots fell within existing protected areas, revealing huge conservation gaps. The coast of Ghana was found to be a global hotspot for fungi, but with the country's coastline eroding at a rate of 2 metres a year, scientists fear this crucial biodiversity will be washed into the sea. This research marks the first large-scale scientific application of the global mapping initiative, which 'are more than scientific tools – they can help guide the future of conservation', said the study's lead author, Dr Michael Van Nuland. 'Given the impact of these fungal symbioses on the health and functioning of Earth's ecosystems, continuing to ignore them could be a hugely missed opportunity.' Nuland said the fungi respond negatively to human stressors, and without addressing the possible loss of these vital fungus, we could lose our ability to develop novel natural climate solutions. Land use is a significant cause of mycorrhizal fungal degradation, and it is 'frustrating that no action has been taken to prioritise conservation of it', said Kiers. 'The fungi are needed for agricultural productivity and human health.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion These fungal ecosystems were largely invisible in law and policy, said César Rodríguez-Garavito, a professor of law and the faculty director of the More-Than-Human Life (Moth) programme at NYU's School of Law. '[The data is] incredibly important in strengthening law and policy on climate change and biodiversity loss across all of Earth's underground ecosystems.' The findings are accessible through Spun's underground atlas interactive tool for conservation groups, researchers and policymakers to identify hotspots that require intervention. With more than 400 scientists and 96 underground explorers from 79 countries, Spun's international team is sampling the Earth's most hard-to-access, remote underground ecosystems including in Mongolia, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Ukraine. Spun is seeking new collaborators and funding to scale its mycorrhizal fungal maps, which cover only 0.001% of the Earth's surface. The expansion of its fungal maps would guide decision-makers to start leveraging mycorrhizal systems. The preservation and protection of mycorrhizal fungi could help to solve some of the world's greatest challenges – biodiversity decline, climate change, and declining food productivity, said Dr Rebecca Shaw, the chief scientist at the World Wide Fund for Nature, who added that it had a direct benefit to people.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Earth's underground network of fungi needs urgent protection, say researchers
The underground network of fungi that underpins the planet's ecosystems needs urgent conservation action by politicians, a research organisation has said. Scientists from the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (Spun) have created the first high-resolution biodiversity maps of Earth's underground mycorrhizal fungal ecosystems. The research, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, found that 90% of the biodiverse hotspots of mycorrhizal fungi were in unprotected ecosystems. Loss of the ecosystems could lead to reductions in carbon drawdown, crop productivity and ecosystem resilience to climate extremes. Mycorrhizal fungi have 'remained in the dark, despite the extraordinary ways they sustain life on land', said Dr Toby Kiers, the executive director of Spun. 'They cycle nutrients, store carbon, support plant health, and make soil. When we disrupt these critical ecosystem engineers, forest regeneration slows, crops fail and biodiversity above ground begins to unravel … 450m years ago, there were no plants on Earth and it was because of the mycorrhizal fungal network that plants colonised the planet and began supporting human life. 'If we have a healthy fungal network, then we will have greater agricultural productivity, bigger and beautiful flowers, and can protect plants against pathogens.' Mycorrhizal fungi are found on the roots of plants and help regulate Earth's climate and ecosystems. Its underground networks provide plants with essential nutrients, while drawing more than 13bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year into soils – equivalent to roughly one-third of global emissions from fossil fuels. Spun launched the initiative in 2021 alongside organisations including GlobalFungi, Fungi Foundation, the Global Soil Mycobiome consortium and researchers from around the world to map out the under-researched network of mycorrhizal fungal. Using machine-learning techniques on a dataset containing more than 2.8bn fungal samples from 130 countries, scientists were able to predict mycorrhizal diversity at a 1km2 scale across the planet. They discovered that only 9.5% of these fungal biodiversity hotspots fell within existing protected areas, revealing huge conservation gaps. The coast of Ghana was found to be a global hotspot for fungi, but with the country's coastline eroding at a rate of 2 metres a year, scientists fear this crucial biodiversity will be washed into the sea. This research marks the first large-scale scientific application of the global mapping initiative, which 'are more than scientific tools – they can help guide the future of conservation', said the study's lead author, Dr Michael Van Nuland. 'Given the impact of these fungal symbioses on the health and functioning of Earth's ecosystems, continuing to ignore them could be a hugely missed opportunity.' Nuland said the fungi respond negatively to human stressors, and without addressing the possible loss of these vital fungus, we could lose our ability to develop novel natural climate solutions. Land use is a significant cause of mycorrhizal fungal degradation, and it is 'frustrating that no action has been taken to prioritise conservation of it', said Kiers. 'The fungi is needed for agricultural productivity and human health.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion These fungal ecosystems were largely invisible in law and policy, said César Rodríguez-Garavito, a professor of law and the faculty director of the More-Than-Human Life (Moth) programme at NYU's School of Law. '[The data is] incredibly important in strengthening law and policy on climate change and biodiversity loss across all of Earth's underground ecosystems.' The findings are accessible through Spun's underground atlas interactive tool for conservation groups, researchers and policymakers to identify hotspots that require intervention. With more than 400 scientists and 96 underground explorers from 79 countries, Spun's international team is sampling the Earth's most hard-to-access, remote underground ecosystems including in Mongolia, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Ukraine. Spun is seeking new collaborators and funding to scale its mycorrhizal fungal maps, which cover only 0.001% of the Earth's surface. The expansion of its fungal maps would guide decision-makers to start leveraging mycorrhizal systems. The preservation and protection of mycorrhizal fungi could help to solve some of the world's greatest challenges – biodiversity decline, climate change, and declining food productivity, said Dr Rebecca Shaw, the chief scientist at the World Wide Fund for Nature, who added that it had a direct benefit to people.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Our body is a mosaic of fungi. Some scientists think they could be influencing our brain
The fungi within our bodies may have a much greater effect on our health than we've long given them credit for. Amongst the millions of tiny life forms living on and inside our bodies are countless species of fungi. Our skin is a mosaic of them, membranes inside the nose and vagina are full of them, and fungi even live alongside the bacteria inside our guts. While we might acquire some fungi from our mothers at birth, new fungi are also constantly entering our bodies; we ingest yeasts every time we drink beer or eat bread, and we inhale floating fungal spores with every breath. Many of these fungi are quickly killed off by our immune systems, but others are transient passengers or lifelong acquaintances. Lately, scientists have been exploring how our fungal inhabitants could even influence our brains, minds and behaviour. Doctors have long known that fungi can cause dangerous brain infections. But researchers are now also finding curious – albeit sometimes controversial – hints that these microbes might have other neurological effects on humans. The idea might evoke images of the human-zombifying fungus from HBO's apocalyptic series The Last of Us. But while scientists agree that the idea of fungi taking complete control over our bodies is implausible, they're earnestly investigating whether some fungi inside us could contribute to brain-damaging diseases, or if gut-dwelling fungi could influence our behaviour and mental health. Much more research is needed, experts say. But these possibilities are important to study – both to understand the deep and complex relationships with the microbes within us and to explore new ways of boosting our health. In general, humans are pretty good at resisting fungi (our warm body temperature tends to make it hard for them to take hold). And many of the fungi that do might actually be good for us, possibly supporting our immune systems or helping wounds to heal, says microbiologist Matthew Olm of the University of Colorado Boulder, US. "I would say fungi are definitely a critical part of being a healthy human," he says. But many other fungi can cause infections, from athlete's foot to thrush. This happens when we encounter new, harmful fungi in our environment or when fungi that naturally coexist with us are under certain conditions triggered to explode in abundance, says Rebecca Drummond, a fungal immunologist at the University of Birmingham, UK. It's rare for fungi to reach the brain, thanks to protective barriers in the lungs and intestines, along with the brain's own defensive wall, the blood-brain barrier, and immune cells that are primed to destroy any fungi that slip through. But fungal brain infections do happen, and the number of cases has increased in recent decades. This is due to a growing number of people with weakened immune systems, Drummond says, partly because of the global spread of the immune-crippling virus HIV, especially in parts of Africa but also due to rising use of immune-suppressing medications in cancer patients and organ transplant recipients. "The more of these immune-modulating drugs we use, we'll see more of these fungal infections," Drummond says. Fungi that infect the brain sometimes originate in the lungs, including Aspergillus or Cryptococcus, which we inhale as airborne spores that can germinate, grow and spread if left unchecked, Drummond says. Less often, common gut residents such as Candida albicans grow out of control and, once in the brain, branches out and produces nerve-killing toxins, Drummond adds. Cryptococcus, meanwhile, can grow into tumour-like masses. "Obviously, that causes huge amounts of damage," she says. Fungal brain infections are often fatal, with Aspergillus reaching mortality rates of above 90%. They can be tricky to treat, says Drummond: there aren't many antifungal medications, and not all drugs get across the blood-brain barrier to kill off brain-dwelling fungi. Some fungi have also already developed resistance to these drugs. People who survive fungal infections of the brain are often left with long-term brain damage. Aids patients who have survived cryptococcal meningitis, which arises from a brain infection by Cryptococcus x, suffer vision impairments, memory loss and dizziness, says Drummond. Scientists have long known of the dangers of fungal brain infections. But in recent years, some have been exploring the possibility that fungi are getting into the brain much more frequently than previously believed, and may even be contributing to the loss of nerve cells that occurs in conditions like Alzheimer's disease. To Richard Lathe, a molecular biologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK, some of the most interesting evidence for this theory comes from a handful of cases where fungal and other microbial brain infections were coincidentally discovered in people initially diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In several cases where doctors prescribed infection-fighting medication, "the symptoms of dementia remitted", Lathe says. "Quite remarkably, some of them went back to work". Lathe believes that microbes slip across the blood-brain barrier quite frequently but are usually suppressed or killed in people with healthy immune systems. Because our immune systems weaken with age, that could allow microbes to accumulate in the brain, perhaps triggering nerve-killing inflammation. "It's only when the immune system declines that you see damage," he says. Scientists have long linked Alzheimer's to a build-up of certain proteins in the brain, but there's now a growing debate over whether the presence of those proteins is the cause or merely a symptom of the disease. Lathe argues these proteins are actually produced as a defence mechanism against microbial intrusion, based on research suggesting the proteins have infection-fighting properties. Further evidence that brain-intruding microbes could be causing Alzheimer's comes from experiments in mice, where scientists have witnessed the fungus Candida albicans entering the brain after the rodents' immune systems were compromised. And in one pre-print study – which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed by other scientists – Lathe and his colleagues examined brain slices from deceased healthy people and Alzheimer's patients. They found large quantities of bacteria, viruses and fungi in both groups – but more in the brains from patients who had Alzheimer's. If microbes are indeed a factor in Alzheimer's, we may be able to mitigate or even prevent the disease by strengthening people's immune defences, for instance with vaccines that have been shown to boost general immunity. But this theory is young, Lathe says. "It's a new idea." And a debated one, too. Olm and others argue it's hard to rule out that the microbial genetic material may have appeared because of contamination, as fragments of microbes tend to be ubiquitous. Lathe finds that unlikely, though, pointing to reports that microbe fragments in brain tissue are just as abundant inside the samples as they are on the surface, whereas contamination from the air would mostly settle on the brain surface. Still, Olm says that finding more microbe fragments in Alzheimer's brains isn't proof that those microbes cause the disease. For instance, those people's brains might simply have had a weaker blood-brain barrier or some other issue, meaning more microbes entered their brains over time before being killed off by their immune systems. However, new evidence that microbes can invade the brains of animals like fish strengthens the notion that this could be happening in mammals – and perhaps even humans, Olm says. In a 2024 study, scientists labelled bacteria with tiny, fluorescent green molecules and added them to tanks housing salmon and trout. "After a week, you see these microbes making their way into the fish brain, lighting the fish brain up green," Olm says, and curiously, "[the microbes] seemingly live there without huge consequences for these fish over their lifetime." In any case, the notion of fungi and other microbes getting into the brain in old age – either due to a weakening brain immune system or a worn-out blood brain barrier – is more plausible. "I think we've now reached that threshold where there's enough smoke around this hypothesis… it's worth spending money on figuring out if that is happening," Olm says. More like this:• What your snot can reveal about your health• Why the microbes that live on your skin matter• The mystery origins of Candida auris Interestingly, fungi might not need to enter the brain in order to influence it. In a 2022 study, immunologist Iliyan Iliev of Weill Cornell Medicine in the US and colleagues found that adding Candida albicans to the guts of mice made them more resilient to damage of their gut linings caused by bacterial infections or heavy antibiotic use. Strengthening the gut wall may be a defence mechanism by the body to prevent the fungus and other microbes from escaping the gut and infecting other tissues, Iliev says. But the big surprise came when the team observed the rodents' behaviour. Remarkably, fungi-colonised mice were much more likely to sniff, communicate and engage with other mice – meaning that exposure to the fungi appeared to have some sort of behavioural effect too. Based on other experiments, the scientists theorise that certain molecules released by the mice's immune cells enter the bloodstream and somehow stimulate certain nerve cells in the brain that are involved in behaviour. "It was very surprising to us," Iliev recalls. It's a mystery why, at least in mice, this crosstalk between gut fungi and the brain exists. Is it a coincidence that fungus-triggered immune signals affect the brain, or "is that actually deliberately done by the fungus to benefit its survival?" Iliev asks. Perhaps mammalian bodies somehow benefit from changing their behaviour in response to fungi, Iliev speculates. There's no evidence yet that this crosstalk between gut fungi and the brain happens in humans, but the possibility would be worth investigating, Olm says. In recent years, evidence has mounted that gut-dwelling bacteria may be able to send signals to the brain via the immune and nervous systems, or by producing substances associated with the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and relaxation. In principle, Olm says, "there's no reason to think that fungi aren't doing this as well". (Read more about how gut bacteria could be influencing the brain). Some scientists are even investigating whether fungi could be involved in mental disorders. Several studies have found differences in the makeup of gut fungi in people who suffer from depression or bipolar disorder. In women with schizophrenia, those who showed signs of exposure to the gut-dwelling Candida albicans tended to score lower on tests of memory and other cognitive abilities, according to a 2016 study by Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Emily Severance and her colleagues. She is exploring the possibility that Candida overgrowth – caused by stress or antibiotics, for instance – provokes an imbalance of gut microbes, altering the substances they produce in ways that make susceptible people more likely to develop schizophrenia. If true, it could allow doctors to treat schizophrenia symptoms by giving people probiotics that help reverse the overabundance of Candida – which would in any case be helpful, she says. But finding an association doesn't mean that the fungi cause schizophrenia. It could simply be that these patients are somehow more prone to high levels of Candida. So far "we can only come up with associations", says Severance. 'I think that that's typical for a field of study that is very exciting – but still very early on in the timeline.' Which of our fungal inhabitants – if any at all – are really influencing our brains is something scientists hope to learn in the coming years. "[Fungi are] definitely important," Drummond says, "but exactly how they're important, I think, is still being worked out." One thing is already clear: while bacteria have long been in the limelight, it may be time we also pay serious attention to the fungi quietly shaping our health from within. -- For trusted insights into better health and wellbeing rooted in science, sign up to the Health Fix newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Science
- ABC News
Australian native fungi spring to life during colder, wetter months
Deep in native Australian forests is a wonderland that springs to life each winter. It is a mysterious world of colourful toadstools right out of a fairy tale, of bizarre white "cages" that smell of death and decay and of ghostly mushrooms that glow eerily in the dark. Australia's native macrofungi — those visible fungus forms that can be seen with the naked eye and often appear during the coldest, darkest time of the year — play an essential role within any ecosystem. They are nature's recyclers, fertilisers and rehabilitators. While a few notorious introduced varieties have engendered a toxic reputation, Australia's native macrofungi remain largely an enigma. Fewer than 10 per cent of the potentially hundreds of thousands of fungus species in Australia (estimates range up to 250,000) have been formally identified and described. "It shows how little we know," ecologist and author Alison Pouliot said. "There are whole lot of reasons for that. I think the big thing, for a lot of them, is they are out of sight, out of mind. "They are most often underground for most of the year." Fungi occupy a strange space somewhere between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, having some traits of each but being truly neither. "They are a whole separate kingdom," Dr Pouliot explained. Dr Pouliot said fungi get their nutrition through digestion like animals rather than from sunlight like plants. "Fungi don't photosynthesise like plants," she said. "They digest like we do. "They are also made of a compound called chitin instead of cellulose like a plant. We find that in the animal kingdom. That's what a crayfish's shell is made of, for example." The most visible component of macrofungi, such as the parasol-shaped mushroom, makes up a mere fraction of the living thing itself. It is, in fact, the sex organ of a much larger organism that is most often hidden underground. "Collectively we call them [the visible component] the reproductive sporing bodies," Dr Pouliot said "A mushroom is just one type of structure. There are puffballs and morels, for example, and these are not mushrooms." The greater part of the organism below the surface is called a "mycelium", which includes the seldom seen root structure. A mycelium can range in size from mere specks to metres. Some are among the largest living things on the planet, stretching square kilometres. Many of the most familiar varieties become active in autumn, activated by changes in the soil. "Why we see [them] most in autumn is the mycelium responds to a drop in soil temperature and an increase in soil moisture," Dr Pouliot explained. A warmer, drier summer across south-eastern Australia has likely had an impact on how many native mushrooms and other macrofungi are able to be seen this year, according to Victorian Western District field naturalist Helen Langley. "A few are appearing now in the Western District," Ms Langley said. "There does appear to be less of them because it has been so dry. "It has also got cold quickly this year, which hasn't helped." Dr Pouliot said fungi were resilient, however, and should bounce back if and when the rain returned next year. News stories about toxic mushrooms have blurred the terms "mushroom" and "toadstool". Scientifically, at least, they are all now referred to as mushrooms. "Originally a mushroom was an umbrella-shaped fungus that was edible, and a toadstool was an umbrella-shaped fungus that was toxic," Dr Pouliot explained. "Over the years, those two terms have been used synonymously, and we saw books being published about things like poisonous mushrooms. The world was like, 'Hang on a minute. They're supposed to be edible'. "Today, the word 'toadstool' has pretty much fallen out of use. It's more a poetic or literary term. "And today the word mushroom doesn't refer to edibility, it just means umbrella-shaped." The term "toadstool" (a stool for toads in English) has an etymology rooted in its toxicity, however. "Tod" is the German word for "death", while "stuhl" is German for "chair". A "bolete", meanwhile, is mushroom-shaped macrofungus that has a spongy underside with pores rather than the gills synonymous with mushrooms. Ms Langley said people should avoid foraging for native fungi. "Like many native plants, native mushrooms are not supposed to be picked and collected," she said. "They are meant to be left alone in their natural environment. "For a lot of native fungi, we just don't know about their toxicity. It is not worth the risk. "My advice is not to touch them and just to look at them and enjoy them for what they are." Several of the most recognisable macrofungi, including the charismatic fly amanita (Amanita muscaria), the infamous death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides) and familiar edible varieties such as the common mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), are not native to Australia. Dr Pouliot encouraged bush explorers to find and photograph Australia's fantastic and fabulous native fungi but suggested we don't disturb them and leave them be. She said, among the potentially hundreds of thousands of species that could be discovered in Australian forests, were these spectacular varieties: The striking rhubarb bolete (Boletellus obscurecoccineus) is distinctive for its red-to-rhubarb-coloured cap and underbelly of yellow pores. It's found among eucalypt leaf litter in Victoria, Tasmania, south-western WA and south-east NSW. The widespread pretty horn (Calocera sinensis – calo = beautiful and cera = horn in Greek) appears as little yellow clubs or spikes. It's a wood-recycling fungus that grows on logs, branches and twigs. Growing in south-eastern Australia, the green skinhead (Cortinarius austrovenetus) is unusual for its green colouration. Members of the genus Cortinarius are known as webcaps as they have a cortina, or web-like veil that protects the gills during early growth stages. Appearing like rubies among the leaf litter on the forest floor, the tiny but conspicuous ruby bonnet (Cruentomycena viscidocruenta) is always a joy to find. It grows in wetter forests in Australia and New Zealand. This fungus is not your average umbrella-shaped mushroom. The smooth cage fungus (Ileodictyon gracile), while striking to look at, has a fetid odour that is likely to repel you. Native to Australia, it often pops up in garden beds. The gem-studded puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) is a cosmopolitan species with many common names including warted puffball, common puffball and devil's snuff-box. You'll find it in all kinds of habitats from forests and woodlands to grass clearings, gardens and track edges. The Australian parasol (Macrolepiota clelandii) often appears in grassy verges along roadsides. This handsome species is recognisable for its raised central brown knob, or umbo, and "chocolate-chip" scales. It's also known as the graceful parasol or slender parasol. The endearing pixie's parasol (Mycena interrupta) has a Gondwanan distribution but here in Australia you'll find it in Tasmania, Victoria, NSW, South Australia and if you're really lucky, in Queensland.
