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Judi Lynn

(160,211 posts)
Sat Jul 4, 2020, 01:56 AM Jul 2020

How one teaspoon of Amazon soil teems with fungal life


By Helen Briggs
BBC Environment correspondent
27 June 2020



CAMILA DUARTE

Fungi on the floor of the rainforest

A teaspoon of soil from the Amazon contains as many as 1,800 microscopic life forms, of which 400 are fungi.

Largely invisible and hidden underground, the "dark matter" of life on Earth has "amazing properties", which we're just starting to explore, say scientists.

The vast majority of the estimated 3.8 million fungi in the world have yet to be formally classified.

Yet, fungi are surprisingly abundant in soil from Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

To help protect the Amazon rainforest, which is being lost at an ever-faster rate, it is essential to understand the role of fungi, said a team of researchers led by Prof Alexandre Antonelli, director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

"Take a teaspoon of soil and you will find hundreds or thousands of species," he said. "Fungi are the next frontier of biodiversity science."

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53197650
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How one teaspoon of Amazon soil teems with fungal life (Original Post) Judi Lynn Jul 2020 OP
I did some research years ago on fungi while studying VOC's littlemissmartypants Jul 2020 #1

littlemissmartypants

(22,417 posts)
1. I did some research years ago on fungi while studying VOC's
Sat Jul 4, 2020, 04:49 AM
Jul 2020

aka volatile organic compounds. Fungi are endlessly fascinating. Their colors and sizes alone seemed endless. The more I learned the more I wanted to learn. One amazing fact is that some of them live on a thin line between plant and animal. Even after I finished the project I went on to study more, just for the fun of it.

Thanks for sharing this, Judi Lynn.

❤ lmsp

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