When most people think of fungi, they think of the part you can see: mushroom caps poking through the soil.
When most people think of fungi, they think of the part you can see: mushroom caps poking through the soil. But Stanford biologist Kabir Peay knows the humble mushroom sprouts from a vast network of tiny fungal strands branching out below ground, intertwined with the roots of trees and plants.
“If you were to walk around a forest, the ground beneath is teeming with life,” said Peay, director of the Earth Systems Program and an associate professor of Earth system science in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. These fungal networks play a leading role in plant and forest health and could be key to sustainably supporting ecosystems and agriculture in the face of climate change.
“Plants – almost all of them, almost all of the time – are involved in this ancient partnership,” said Peay, who is also an associate professor of biology in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Beneficial fungi known as mycorrhizal fungi colonize the roots of plants, which provide energy via photosynthesis. The fungi, in turn, deliver water and nutrients from the soil to their hosts.
Read more at: Stanford University
Kabir Peay and graduate student Lauren Ward gather soil samples in an area of Point Reyes burned in the 1995 Mount Vision Fire. (Photo Credit: Andrew Brodhead)
