Author: Alex Yang
Editors: Maria Flores and Ruoxi Lin
Artist: Olivia Yuan
Have you ever eaten fungi, the eukaryotic organisms that decompose organic matter? Although you might think otherwise, most likely you have. Bread, wine, cheese, and mushrooms are all staple food items from around the world that are fungi or produced fungi. Fungi are everywhere: in the soil, air, lakes, rivers, seas, plants, animals, and even in the human body. Together with bacteria, they break down any dead organic matter and release elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus into the soil and atmosphere. Being once related to plants, there are many misconceptions on what category a fungi belongs to.
Many wonder why fungi aren’t considered plants, as they look and grow alike. In the past, fungi were once considered plants, but because of their lack of chlorophyll (the pigment that makes plants green), they have been separated from plants. Fungi are also unable to perform photosynthesis as they are not autotrophic and lack chlorophyll, which is needed to absorb red and blue light. Instead, they release enzymes into the environment that decompose complex organic compounds before absorbing them into their mycelium (a network of fungal threads underground). The mycelium provides a transportation system to pass nutrients like nitrogen, carbon, potassium, and phosphorus along the fungal body. However, they only keep a small amount of the nutrients and energy they break down, leaving the rest of the materials to the soil, air, or water. Without the fungi helping all living things survive, the life we know of today would cease to exist, resulting in a world buried under fallen trees, animal remains, and infertile soil. Fungi prevents this from happening, as it recycles nutrients and keeps the soil healthy, making its raw materials available for other organisms in the environment.
Agriculture and the environment are heavily dependent on fungi, as they keep the soil healthy and maintain the condition of the soil. If there is no interaction between fungi and plants, then plants will have less growth, resulting in a decrease of stability in the ecosystem. Fungi breaks down harmful toxins, and pesticides, and helps filter toxic water, which are huge factors in the health and growth of plants. Fungi are also a source of food for many insects and other invertebrates. Its hyphae—the branching filaments that make up the mycelium of fungus—provide a nutritional food source to organisms like birds, mammals, insects, plants, and more. Without this symbiotic activity of fungi, all of the essential nutrients from dead plants or animals would be unavailable to other organisms.
Fungi are the Earth's heroes, keeping the stability and growth of the environment and benefiting all the organisms on Earth. Its existence keeps the environment from collapsing by recycling nutrients back into its surroundings and without it, the world would look like a wasteland filled with dead trees, animals, humans, animals, and more. Fungi not only provide us humans and animals with a food source, but also helps give materials to the environment around it. With many organisms living on the Earth, a fungus’s job is one of the most important, preserving the stability and growth of the world.
Citations:
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