Mycorrhizal fungi
The symbiotic connection mycorrhizal fungi establish between plants enables multi-species communication in an ecosystem. This process also facilitates the redistribution of resources from places of excess to places of need in ways that increase ecosystem regeneration, carbon storage, water capacity, and soil health.[1]
Today, over ninety percent of plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi, which link trees and other plants in shared mycelial networks also known as the wood wide web. This ancient partnership gave rise to life on land, with early fungi eating the rocks and minerals to make the first soil for plants. Today, lichens (unions of fungi and algae) are still the first organisms to establish themselves and make soil after volcanic islands or made or glaciers retreat to reveal bare rock.[2]
Soil Carbon
Glomalin is a soil glue produced by mycorrhizal fungi which plays an essential role in the formation and maintenance of soil through aggregation, facilitates the transfer of nutrients and water through fungal hyphae and soil ecosystems, and makes up a third of all soil organic carbon.
Furthermore, ectomycorrhizal fungi can slow down decomposition, a natural process that emits carbon from forest soils into to the atmosphere.[3]
Hempforestry
Related: Forestgarden | Hempforest
Sources
- ↑ Mycorrhizal Planet: How Symbiotic Fungi Work with Roots to Support Plant Health and Build Soil Fertility, by Michael Phillips
- ↑ Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, by Merlin Sheldrake, p. 4-5
- ↑ https://www.bu.edu/articles/2018/4-things-to-know-about-fungi-climate-warriors/