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The Lives of Fungi: A Natural History of Our Planets Decomposers
Author:
Britt A Bunyard
Publisher:
Princeton University Press
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Year:
2022
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A fascinating and richly illustrated exploration of the natural history of fungi

We know fungi are important, for us as well as the environment. But how they live, and what they can do, remains mysterious and surprising. Filled with stunning photographs, The Lives of Fungi presents an inside look into their hidden and extraordinary world.

The wonders of fungi are myriad: a mushroom poking up through leaf litter literally overnight, or the sensational hit of umami from truffle shavings. Alexander Fleming cured infections with mold and spiritual guides have long used psychedelic mushrooms to enhance understanding. Then there are the tiny threads of fungi, called hyphae, that create a communications network for the natural world while decomposing organic matter. Combining engaging and accessible text with beautiful images, The Lives of Fungi lays out all the essential facts about fungi for the mycologically curious.

Britt A. Bunyard: author's other books

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FUNGI

THE LIVES OF

FUNGI

THE

LIVES

A NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR PLANETS DECOMPOSERS

Britt A. Bunyard

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Published by Princeton University Press

41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

99 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6JX

press.princeton.edu

www.unipressbooks.com

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any

information storage-and-retrieval system, without written

permission from the copyright holder. Requests for permission

to reproduce material from this work should be sent to

permissions@press.princeton.edu

Library of Congress Control Number 2021949362

ISBN 978-0-691-22984-3

Ebook ISBN 978-0-691-23035-1

Typeset in Bembo and Futura

Printed and bound in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book was conceived, designed, and produced by

UniPress Books Limited

Publisher: Nigel Browning

Commissioning editor: Kate Shanahan

Project manager: Natalia Price-Cabrera

Art direction: Wayne Blades

Designer: Gilda Pacitti

Picture researcher: Natalia Price-Cabrera

Illustrator: Sarah Skeate

Cover photograph Anne Powell/Shutterstock

INTRODUCTION

WHAT ARE FUNGI ?

REPRODUCTION

CHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY

SAPROBES AND PARASITES

PATHOGENS, PANDEMICS,

AND SCOURGES

MUTUALISTIC SYMBIONTS

FUNGI AND HUMANS

FUNGI AND THE FUTURE

278 Glossary

282 Useful resources

283 Index

288 Acknowledgments

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Everything depends on everything else.

(Translated credo of the Haida people of the Pacific Northwest)

ll life on the planet is connected, but these

connections go mostly unseen.As you read this,

for example,microbes covering much of the

surface of your bodyinside and outare going about

their business.In fact,the vast majority of living cells that

make the ecosystem that isyouare not human;the vast

majority are microbial,and some are fungal.

Its a similar story with the tree outside your

window, which is mostly of non-living tree cells; most

of the living cells making up that tree are probably not

tree or even plant cells. Endophytic organisms inside

the plants tissues are responsible for much of the

hormonal control of the plant, determining its

drought resistance, heat resistance, and toxin production

in response to attack by pathogens or herbivory.

Mycorrhizae of the trees roots are responsible for the

uptake of water and nutrients.These fungi are attached

to adjacent and unrelated trees, and have fruitbodies

that host fungi-eating (mycophagous) arthropods.These

arthropods are in turn parasitized by nematodes, or by

smaller arthropods, such as braconid parasitoid wasps.

Those tiny parasitoid wasps rely on viruses to mask

their invading parasite egg from the immune system

of the hosts larva, and so the connections go on.

What all of these living organisms have in common,

thoughindeed, what every living organism on this

planet has in commonis a reliance on fungi.Yet even

though fungi are all around us, they remain poorly

understood.With our planet and natural resources

under constant assault from an ever-shrinking habitat

and a burgeoning human population that brings with it

pollution, invasive species, and other manmade disasters,

it is becoming increasingly important that we are aware

of the natural treasures that exist all around us.

Mushrooms and other fungi are beautiful and

interesting organisms, which I know is an opinion

that is not shared by everyone. If considered at all,

fungi are often seen as mere recyclers of nutrients and

decomposers of organic matter in the environment

rotters of the once-living. However, recently developed

methods to detect organismal DNA from the

environment, improved microscopic techniques,

and novel methods for culturing and cultivating,

are showing that fungi are much more ubiquitous than we thought.They are

also revealing that fungi are much more important to the environment and,

by extension, to ourselves.

Based on sheer mass and the number of species, fungi (along with insects)

are likely the most common and most evolutionarily successful organisms on

the planet. Fungi can be found thriving on all continents of Earth, from the

loftiest peaks to the driest deserts, from the depths of the worlds oceans to

our own backyards. Nor do they stop at our doorsthey can be found thriving

(to the chagrin of most) within our own homes.With advances in modern

microscopy we have come to know that molds and other fungi are found in

just about every niche in the environment and that probably no plantslong

considered the keystones of all habitatscan thrive for very long without their

Favolaschia calocera is a beautiful

rotter of wood that has recently been

turning up in many new places and

new habitats. A changing climate

and international travel and trade are

changing the mycological landscapes

around us.

Mushrooms are the reproductive

structures of fungi and come in a

bewildering assortment of shapes

and forms. The Common Splitgill

( Schizophyllum commune ) is one

of the most ubiquitous of all mushrooms,

found on dead wood of every continent

except Antarctica.

fungal partners. Obligately intertwined among roots

as mycorrhizae, growing epiphytically on plant surfaces,

and found within plant tissues as endophytes, fungi are

the true puppet masters in nature. Conversely, fungi

also cause the vast majority of disease among plant

species, including those to which we owe our very

survival as sources of food, fi ber, and medicines; again,

fungi pull the strings.

As a species, we humans have come to a crucial

point in our history.About 2.5 billion people inhabited

our planet when I was born, but by the early 1990s,

when I was a graduate student studying mushrooms

and other fungi, our population had increased to 5.3

billion. Now that number is 7.8 billion, which is

projected to rise to 9.7 billion by 2050.These snowballing

fi gures highlight the immense challenges we face when

tackling global climate change and fi guring out how,

as a species, we can sustain the healthy ecosystems that

we depend on for our existence.

There is no doubt that fungi will play an important

role in this process, as humans have collected, used,

and eaten mushrooms and other fungi for (arguably)

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