-
Fungi have been in the recycling business for as long as
plants have been around—that's about 400 million years.
- The
largest living organism on earth may be a fungus. A culture
of the species Armillaria bulbosa has spread through
an 86-hectare (35 acre) woodland in northern Michigan. It
could be 1,500 years old.
- In
North America, edible European truffles sell for more than
$1,000 (US) per kilo ($450 per pound).
- Some
colonies of lichens are more than 4,000 years old. In the
Arctic it takes a colony of some lichens 1,000 years to
grow two inches.
- Fungal
decay of woody matter adds 80 billion tonnes of carbon to
the atmosphere every year in the form of carbon dioxide.
- Mushrooms,
like most living organisms, are 85-95 percent water.
- One
specimen of the common bracket fungus, Ganoderma applanatum,
can produce 350,000 spores per second. That's 30 billion
spores a day and 4,500 billion in one season.
- Fungal
spores vary from 3-100 microns across. One micron is one
thousandth of a millimetre. 100 microns equal one-tenth
the thickness of a dime.
- A
single yeast cell averages 2-4 microns in diameter, about
five times larger than most bacteria.
- One
scoop of horse dung may provide a home for as many as 40
species of fungi.
- One
expert estimates there may be as many as 1,500,000 species
of fungus. So far only about 100,000 species—1 in 15—have
been described. Some 10,000 of these produce the fleshy
fruit bodies we call mushrooms.
- More
than 90 percent of all the higher plants have mycorrhizal
fungi associated with their roots.
- A
tree may donate 10 percent of its photosynthetic products
to the upkeep of the fungi partnered with its roots.
- In
forest soils, 90 percent of all the living matter, other
than tree roots, is fungus.
- If
you laid out the fungal hyphae associated with the roots
of a single tree, they would encircle the world several
times.
- Many
of the fungi found in old-growth forests will not recolonize
clearcut habitat for 40-50 years.
- In
Canada, 30 million cubic metres (just over 1 billion cubic
feet) of living wood are lost each year to trunk decay and
root rot caused by fungi.
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