New research suggests that mycorrhizal fungi take in 13 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, playing a prominent role in Earth’s carbon cycle.
fungi
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Rethinking How Valley Fever Spreads
Scientists have long assumed that dust storms lead to infections with the desert soil fungus Coccidioides, but new evidence suggests otherwise.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Hardwood Forest Soils Are Sinks for Plant-Produced Volatiles
New research identifies temperature, moisture, and soil fungi as important factors in influencing how biogenic volatile organic compounds cycle between plants and the atmosphere.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mushrooms Could Provide a Record of Grassland History
Scientists measured carbon isotopes in certain types of fungi to assess whether the organisms can track how climate change is affecting grasses.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysterious "Fairy Circles" Continue to Enchant Scientists
Researchers revisit an old theory about the ethereal patterns of vegetation that form in some arid landscapes.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Microbial Communities Form Iron Shells in Abandoned Mines
Fungi and bacteria deposit metal ions on steel objects left behind by miners. These metals form strange clam-like shells on the steel surfaces.
Posted inNews
Fungus, Physics Explain Weird Tresses of Ice
Alfred Wegener, of plate tectonics fame, proposed a link nearly 100 years ago between fungi and "hair ice" on dead wood. A new study has identified the fungus and how it may influence ice structure.