Mushroom Conversations? Some Fungi Communicate Through Electric Signals After It Rains, Study Reveals

A new study has revealed that certain mushrooms could actually communicate through electric signals. This offers insight regarding the ecological role and importance of fungi in forested ecosystems.

Mushroom Mysteries

According to Science Alert, the scientists focused on small tan mushrooms called bicolored deceivers, or Laccaria bicolor. They found the mushroom species growing over a mixed and secondary forest's floor. This was at the Kawatabi Field Science Center in Tohoku University of Japan.

This specific mushroom species cultivates symbiotic relationships with particular plants, including several huge trees of pine and oak. It boosts water and nutrient supplies in exchange for carbohydrates. As per Science Alert, earlier research revealed that these mushrooms could be aiding the indirect feeding of trees on animals. They could be luring springtail insects, eradicating them possibly through a toxin, and sharing nitrogen with their tree host.

Now, scientists were able to discover how these mushroom species could communicate with each other through electric signals after it rained. This was detailed further in an article, titled "Electrical Potentials in the Ectomycorrhizal Fungus Laccaria Bicolor after a Rainfall Event," published in Fungal Ecology.

Mushroom Talks Via Electric Signals

According to Interesting Engineering, the researchers linked some electrodes to six different L. bicolor mushrooms. They observed that electric signals heightened after it rained.

The researchers then correlated electric potential fluctuations with temperature and precipitation. Doing so enabled them to observe that electric potential after rain demonstrated signals being transported among mushrooms. Such transport was notably strong among mushrooms that were physically proximate. It also demonstrated a degree of directionality.

Yu Fukasawa, the project's leader, who is from Tohoku University, explains that the electric potential fluctuations started after rainfall. At times, it went over 100 mV.

Interesting Engineering adds that ectomycorrhizal fungi, such as L. bicolor, are known to sprout over tree roots that delve deep underground. They are capable of sucking in essential soil nutrients and transferring them to trees.

Fukasawa adds that their study shows the need to conduct further studies on the electric potentials of fungi under genuine ecological circumstances. The authors stress how vital it is to conduct further research in the actual environment and not in the laboratory, considering the limitations that come with the latter setting.

Such findings offer vital insight regarding the intricate relationship that trees and fungi share in such kinds of ecosystems. While such ectomycorrhizal fungi have been known to play a vital ecological role for trees, these new mushroom communication findings reveal a "new layer of complexity" to what is currently understood about forested ecosystems, as reported by Interesting Engineering.

Overall, the study is vital to understanding how mushrooms play a role in the world of forest ecology. However, further research is necessary to dig deeper into the context of the electric potentials of fungi and their role in forests.

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