When I was a child, I remember my grandma removing any fungi that dared to appear in her garden with fear-fuelled rage. Whatever was in her hands was dropped, slippers swapped for garden shoes and in the blink of an eye she was gone, trowel in hand to dig up the perceived intruders to her garden oasis. 

It took a lot of time, but eventually as I shared what I’d learned about fungi through working at Avon Wildlife Trust, she put the trowel down and started to appreciate that healthy soil meant fungi. So, I wanted to share some incredible fungi facts, in the hope we can start to turn fear into fascination!

Feeding the forest

Lots of people think of fungi as just the toadstool that appears during the autumn, but that’s actually just the fungi’s method for dispersing spores so it can reproduce! Fungi exist as a permanent resident of soil or their host, in the form of mycelium. Mycelium is a network of root-like structures called hyphae which explore the soil looking for food sources, usually decaying leaves and wood.

The mycelium can connect with the roots of trees and plants allowing the plant and the fungi to exchange resources, the plant sharing their photosynthesised sugars and the fungi helping the plant to absorb nutrients and water from the soil. These amazing mycorrhizal networks are also credited with helping trees to communicate with one another, in a method sometimes called the ‘wood-wide-web’. Studies of forests have found that young trees growing in shaded areas may get more nutrients from the mycorrhizal networks to help them survive with a lack of photosynthesis.

Unbreakable bonds

Have you ever been walking and spotted a tree covered in lichen? The striking greens, yellows and turquoises not only look beautiful, but they are wonderfully unique in that they are actually two organisms, permanently linked and unable to survive without one another.

Lichens are made up of a fungus and either an alga or a bacterium. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, the fungi create a structure which is the perfect habitat for the bacteria or the algae to thrive and in exchange the fungi’s partners will photosynthesise and provide nutrients for the fungi. The discovery of lichens being two distinct beings called into question our very definition of what makes up an organism, does lichen count as one organism or two? Next time you’re out for a walk maybe take a look at some lichen and see what you think.

Part of the food chain 

Not only do the mycelium of the fungi unlock nutrients for other creatures and plants within the soil, but the fruiting bodies themselves form a vital part of the food chain. They are particularly enjoyed by slugs, snails and ants, which may not be music to the ears of gardeners, but those slugs and snails then go on to provide food for birds, hedgehogs, frogs and toads. 

I hope this has sparked a bit more curiosity towards fungi and how it forms a vital part of our ecosystem. 

Find fascinating fungi and more at our nature reserves