Nearly 500 million years ago, plants depended on fungal mycelium networks for their root systems before developing their own. During that time, there were high amounts of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere: “Early plants and their fungal networks helped lower the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide by 90 percent, enabling the conditions for life on Earth as we know it” (New York Times, 2023).
Nowadays, carbon dioxide levels are rising because of human activities and global warming: “The industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by nearly 50% since 1750. This increase is due to human activities, because scientists can see a distinctive isotopic fingerprint in the atmosphere” (NASA). Scientists are hoping that the fungal systems may be able to reduce carbon dioxide levels again.
This is a fairly recent discussion, only becoming bigger after Covid-19 hit. because most people don’t consider underground eco systems since they’re out of sight. That makes it harder to research fungal networks. Fungal networks are also a relatively recent discovery: “This was in the 1990s, and exciting new discoveries were emerging about underground associations between fungi and plant roots, termed mycorrhiza (literally ‘fungus-root’)” (BBC Science Focus, 2020).
After only being found in the 1990s, it takes years to actually research and understand these scientific findings: “Some fungi produce powerful antiviral compounds which reduce colony collapse disorder in honeybees. In the process of mycoremediation, fungi can be harnessed to break down toxic pollutants. In mycofabrication, fungi are used to produce sustainable materials, from bricks to leather” (New York Times, 2023). Those are only some of the benefits fungi can provide.
The fungi kingdom hasn’t been taught or researched as thoroughly as it should. Or as New York Times puts it, “Fungi are a kingdom of life that have not had a kingdom’s worth of attention” (New York Times, 2023). There is still so much potential for fungi and their impact.
Nowadays, carbon dioxide levels are rising because of human activities and global warming: “The industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by nearly 50% since 1750. This increase is due to human activities, because scientists can see a distinctive isotopic fingerprint in the atmosphere” (NASA). Scientists are hoping that the fungal systems may be able to reduce carbon dioxide levels again.
This is a fairly recent discussion, only becoming bigger after Covid-19 hit. because most people don’t consider underground eco systems since they’re out of sight. That makes it harder to research fungal networks. Fungal networks are also a relatively recent discovery: “This was in the 1990s, and exciting new discoveries were emerging about underground associations between fungi and plant roots, termed mycorrhiza (literally ‘fungus-root’)” (BBC Science Focus, 2020).
After only being found in the 1990s, it takes years to actually research and understand these scientific findings: “Some fungi produce powerful antiviral compounds which reduce colony collapse disorder in honeybees. In the process of mycoremediation, fungi can be harnessed to break down toxic pollutants. In mycofabrication, fungi are used to produce sustainable materials, from bricks to leather” (New York Times, 2023). Those are only some of the benefits fungi can provide.
The fungi kingdom hasn’t been taught or researched as thoroughly as it should. Or as New York Times puts it, “Fungi are a kingdom of life that have not had a kingdom’s worth of attention” (New York Times, 2023). There is still so much potential for fungi and their impact.
