Scientists Observe Fungi Creating Complex Supply Chains
- As the leaves start to pop out, it’s natural to look up and admire the trees.
- How does the fungus decide where to ship which resources, or where to build roads?
- Toby Kiers, an author on a recent study of those networks, and professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije University in Amsterdam.
As the leaves start to pop out, it’s natural to look up and admire the trees. But actually, there’s a lot of action happening underneath your feet. Beneath you is a complex network of fungal trade routes carrying essential nutrients to the roots of plants, mined from the soil by fungus. It’s a subterranean supply chain.
But how exactly do these complex networks form? How does the fungus decide where to ship which resources, or where to build roads? Basically, how does a brainless thread make decisions?
Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Dr. Toby Kiers, an author on a recent study of those networks, and professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije University in Amsterdam. She’s also the executive director of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN).
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