A brief overview of fungi is initially placed down followed by a description of two types of Mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizae form a symbiotic relationship with plants allowing their root systems to receive all of the necessary nutrients in a usable form. Fungi come from their own kingdom of life, similar to plants, animals, and bacteria but separate. The cell walls of fungal cells contain chitin unlike plant cell walls which contain cellulose. The biological science that is directed at the study of fungi is called mycology. It is often a branch of botany even though fungi are more closely related genetically to animals than plants. Fungi are prevalent worldwide with the vast majority remaining hidden underfoot because of their small size and their lifestyle of living on dead plant and animal cells as well as symbiotic relations with animals and plants. Fungi have always maintained a crucial role in the recycling of dead matter. They are also used as a direct source of food as is the case with mushrooms and are used to make everything from bread to wine and beer. Fungi can even be used as a sort of pesticide to control out of control plants, pests, and help maintain healthy plants. A few species of fungi contain "magic" properties which means they are psychotropic in nature. The fungi kingdom has an enormous amount of genetic diversity with about 1.5 million different species. Fungi appear to have diverged from animals and plants about one billion years ago. The topic of interest we will discuss today is fungi's symbiotic role in helping plants maintaining optimal growing conditions. This type of fungi is referred to as Mycorrhizae.
Mycorrhizae fungi help plants to break down dead cell matter into molecules and nutrients and also create perfect conditions for plant growth. If plants are to grow well it is important that the balance between fertilizers and the conditions that break down the fertilizers is maintained. Organisms break down into an acceptable food source for plants if all the elements of a symbiotic relationship are maintained. In nature this is achieved through many years of the natural process of decay and weather conditions. Mycorrhizae form symbiotic relationships with plants and turn many materials into food. Mycorrhizae is basically a fungus that lives among the root systems of plants and trees and helps in this process. One of the reason it is there is too turn complex nutrients into simpler nutrients which are feed directly into the plants root systems. Sometimes Mycorrhizae get greedy and start to only exist for the sole purpose of feeding itself at the plants expense. There are several scientific categories of Mycorrhizae.
Ectomycorrhizae exists among the root systems of woody shrubs and trees. Pines and many other trees that grow in the forest often cannot survive without Mycorrhizae. Ectomycorrhizae looks like it is a spiders web. It forms pathways among the root network and covers the whole surface area. It extends itself into the very structure of the roots. Ectomycorrhizae make thinker feelers that reach out, sometimes kilometers, in search of water and other hard to find minerals and then transport them back to the plants and trees root networks.
Arbuscular Mycorrhizae look like they have a branch growth pattern similar to a tree. They grow similarly to Ectomycorrhizae in that they cover the surface area of a plants roots and penetrate its outer root surface. Scientific research has shown that the host plant allows many forms of Mycorrhizae to penetrate its outer surface and grow from within by adapting its DNA. Arbuscular Mycorrhizae are adapted to find rare phosphor from soil and feed it to the plants in a usable form. They have existed among land plants for the last half a billion years. Because of this and its ubiquitous it is assumed that it has contributed to the development of plants worldwide.
Fungi are very interesting. Although not encountered that much on a day to day basis they play a vital role in the development of land plants.