The mushroom popped up from its underground mycelium (the primary fungal body) amidst the remains of a tree stump. Without fungi and other decay organisms to consume the plant debris, stumps, branches, and lumber would litter the ground for a long, long time, causing all sorts of problems. That is exactly what happened eons agoContinue reading “Decay Saves the Day”
Tag Archives: coal
Fine Fungal Friends
More fungi and ‘shrooms are bursting onto the autumn scene to take advantage of some decaying stumps of dead trees that had to be removed. While they may seem like opportunists of decay, they actually benefit the food chain by releasing nutrients locked in the wood back into the environment. This befits living plants andContinue reading “Fine Fungal Friends”
It’s Among-us
It’s several, not just one fun-gi! Nerd Note: Thanks to fungi and other wood-eating organisms, carbon is recycled back into the biosphere rather than accumulating as piles of wood and cellulose and eventually being buried and turned in to coal as happened during the Carboniferous Period approximately 360 to 300 million years ago. At theContinue reading “It’s Among-us”
