These Charcoal-Eating Fungi Flourish After Fires. Uncover...

What’s Happening

Breaking it down: Mycologists cultivated fungi they found in post-wildfire landscapes to understand the evolutionary traits behind their ability to thrive in the wake of flames These Charcoal-Eating Fungi Flourish After Fires.

Uncovering Their Genetic Secrets Could Help Rebuild Burned Ecosystems Mycologists cultivated fungi they found in post-wildfire landscapes to understand the evolutionary traits behind their ability to thrive in the wake of flames Kunjal Bastola - Editorial Intern Get our ! The fire-loving fungus Geopyxis , seen here in 2022, after California s Caldor Fire, has distinctive brown cups with white rims. (yes, really)

Monika Fischer / UBC When people think of fungi, most tend to picture mushrooms, the spore-bearing bodies of some fungi that are typically found growing in soil or on trees.

The Details

But, the whole fungal kingdom is so much more than that: Our planet hosts an estimated 2. 8 million species of fungi, which are essential to life on Earth , acting as primary decomposers and nutrient recyclers.

Yeasts, for instance, act as rising agents for bread, and molds add flavors to certain smelly cheeses. Lichens —unique organisms created from a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and algae or cyanobacteria—are important indicators of environmental health.

Why This Matters

In vast networks beneath forest floors, mycorrhizal fungi interlace throughout the soil, forming symbiotic relationships with plants and even, some research has suggested, helping trees communicate . And in the charred aftermath of a forest fire, some strange fungi pop up on soil and wood as bright patches of color—like pink or white crusts or little orange cups—for only a few ephemeral weeks. Sydney Glassman , a microbial ecologist at the University of California, Riverside, who has been studying mycorrhizal fungi for more than a decade, stumbled upon this post-fire occurrence by accident.

The scientific community tends to find developments like this significant.

Key Takeaways

• “Not once, but twice during my PhD, my plots burned down in catastrophic mega fires,” she says.
• “So I wrapped up up having the situation where I had sampling pre- and post- a mega fire.
• … And what we found was that certain fungi are fr increased in abundance after a fire.

The Bottom Line

“So I wrapped up up having the situation where I had sampling pre- and post- a mega fire. … And what we found was that certain fungi are fr increased in abundance after a fire.

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