Mushrooms Serve as 'Main Character' in Most Ecosystems

upstart writes:

Mushrooms serve as 'main character' in most ecosystems:

A team of Western mycologists (fungi experts) spent the past two summers digging deep in Newfoundland dirt to investigate the might of mushrooms and found what lies beneath truly is 'the main character' in most terrestrial ecosystems.

Fungi, which produce mushrooms, are critically important in most earthbound ecosystems as they provide life-sustaining mineral nutrients to plants while decomposing their remains, and recycling both organic and inorganic byproducts throughout the biome as they grow and reproduce.

"A lot of ecologists are beginning to realize that mushrooms really run the world. We've quite naturally spent a lot of our time focusing on things above ground, things that we see like plants, animals, and birds," said Western biology professor Greg Thorn. "But in fact, the plants are very closely associated with fungi, and basically wouldn't be there (above ground) without them."

[...] Katarina Kukolj, a master's student in the Thorn lab, leads a study investigating the effects of the edible blewit mushroom (Lepista nuda) on the soil environments in coastal regions of Newfoundland, specifically in the community of Lumsden.

Building on Thorn's research, Kukolj wants to know how and why blewits basically 'attack' microfauna (microscopic animals and organisms) living in the soil and serving as nature's vacuum cleaner by eating bacteria, decomposing surplus nutrients, and producing new ones.

[...] Kukolj believes her research could also provide important supporting data for the use of blewits as a biopesticide in organic farming. Blewitt mushrooms would be an environmentally friendly alternative to some synthetic chemical pesticides. They're also non-toxic and there would be no leaching into the waterways.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.