Lowland mushrooms may be key to ecosystem survival in a warming climate

The fungi that produce them maintain the productivity and stability of nature, according to a new stu.

These include the yeast we use to bake bread, but also mold, lichens, mushrooms, toadstools and puffer fi.

However, in the past few years, ecologists have become aware of some fungi called mycorrhizas like soil fungi -form a huge underground networkConnecting trees and providing them with nutrients allows forests to thri.

To find out, Manuel Delgado Baquerizo, an ecosystem ecologist at the Spanish National Research Council, worked with colleagues around the world to systematically collect and Local soil samples and the fungi they contain were analyzed for different projec.

The researchers also examined satellite images that show the extent of photosynthesis in each region, and therefore, the productivity of vegetation and how that productivity has changed over the past 20 yea.

The greater the variety of decomposers in a wide variety of ecosystems, from grasslands to forests to desertsMore plant productivity remains the same over time, Delgado Baquerizo and colleagues today innatural ecology and evolutionThe researchers found that root fungi have a variety of decomposers and, to a lesser extent, root fungi also help keep plants growing, even during periods of droug.

Plants grow slower and do less photosynthesis, a productivity that helps fuel the rest of the ecosyst.

"It's fascinating that these patterns stand out despite all the other variables changing at different locations," Rilig sa.

However, he cautions that the study does not prove that fungal diversity leads to stability (or vulnerabilit.

No one really knows how to promote soil fungal diversity, but at least, by assessing this diversity, "we may be able to identify which ecosystems may be unstable and less resistant to disturbance," says Sapsford De sa.

"It's an exciting ti.