September 28, 2014
Mycorrhizal Fungi: The Underground Story
Mycologist Rosanne Healy, a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Herbarium, revealed to us the fascinating and largely un-researched realm of subsurface roots and the fungi that cohabit with them. Some 90% of our plants, both woody and perennial, are in mutualistic associations with fungal mycelia. The fungi release minerals from the soil that are essential to the plants' survival, and the plants in turn provide the carbon-based compounds that the fungi need for energy and building materials.
Dr. Healy used slides to illustrate the way roots and fungi grow together, then showed us fungi growing in the woods in back of Neville Place.