The Strange Powers of Mushrooms

December 1, 2013 15:47

Scientists have discovered that mushrooms have the ability to adjust and control the surrounding air to disperse spores and maintain their species.

By altering the humidity of the air around it, mushrooms use the wind to spread their spores.

Fungi can create their own environment to disperse spores.

According to researcher Emilie Dressaire of Trinity University (Hartford, Connecticut, USA), fungi can disperse their spores over a large space even when there is no wind, because they control the surrounding air, creating their own air environment to promote the spore dispersal process.

“It's amazing and wonderful. They're like very clever and ingenious engineers,” Dressaire said.

Researchers used high-speed filming and mathematical modeling to study Shiitake mushrooms, discovering that they emit water vapor that cools the surrounding air, creating convection currents that create wind currents that help disperse spores. This is a much more complex process.

This process occurs in all fungi, including those that cause disease in humans and other plants and animals.

According to vietnamnet

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The Strange Powers of Mushrooms
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