21st Century Guidebook to Fungi

In this chapter on ecosystem mycology we cover fungi as saprotrophs, and the mutualisms between plants and fungi, concentrating on fungi as recyclers that can make the earth move. Fungi also cause food contamination and deterioration through their formation of toxins, although some of these, like statins and strobilurins, are exploited commercially for our own practical purposes.

The ability of fungi to degrade wood makes them responsible for the decay of structural timber in dwellings, but on the other hand enables them to be used to remediate toxic and recalcitrant wastes. A downside, though, is that wood decay fungi release chlorohydrocarbons, potent greenhouse gases, to the atmosphere and thereby potentially contribute to global warming.

Interactions with plants dominate the rest of the chapter. We describe all types of mycorrhiza: arbuscular (AM) endomycorrhizas, ericoid endomycorrhizas, arbutoid endomycorrhizas, monotropoid endomycorrhizas, orchidaceous endomycorrhizas, ectomycorrhizas and ectendomycorrhizas. The effects of mycorrhizas and their commercial applications, and the impact of environmental and climate changes are also discussed. Finally, we introduce lichens, endophytes and epiphytes.

Evidently, fungi contribute to a broad and vibrant network of interactions with all members of the plant, animal and bacterial kingdoms (Prosser, 2002). Because of their unique attributes, fungi in particular play vital roles in most ecosystems.