Book Excerpt: “Intertwined Life” about how fungi shape our future

Biologist and writer Merlin Sheldrake’s book, “Intertwined life: how fungi create our world, change our minds, and shape our future.” (Random House) explores the fascinating relationship between humans and the fungal organisms on which much of life on Earth depends.

Read the excerpt from “Intertwined Life” below and don’t miss an interview with Connor Knighton’s Merlin Sheldrake. “CBS Sunday Morning” February 7th!

Many of the most dramatic events on earth have been, and will continue to be, the result of fungal activity. The plant created it from water about 500 million years ago, in collaboration with fungi that functioned as root systems for tens of millions of years before the plant evolved independently. Today, over 90% of plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi. It means fungi (mykes) and roots (rhiza) in Greek, and trees can be connected by a shared network, sometimes called the “wood wide web”. This ancient association has produced all recognizable life on land. Its future depends on the continued ability of plants and fungi to form healthy relationships.

To date, new land ecosystems have been established by fungi. When a volcanic island is created or a glacier recedes and bare rocks appear, lichens (pronounced LY Ken) (combinations of fungi and algae or bacteria) first settle, creating soil for plant rooting. I will. In well-developed ecosystems, without a dense mesh of fungal tissue that holds the soil together, the soil is rapidly washed away by rain to the locks. There are few Earth pockets where fungi are not found. From deep seafloor sediments to desert surfaces, frozen valleys in Antarctica, and our gut and openings. There can be dozens to hundreds of species on the leaves and stems of a single plant. These fungi pass through the gaps between the intimate Nishikori plant cells and help protect the plant from disease. Without these fungi, no plants could be found grown under natural conditions. They are as part of the plant as the leaves and roots.

The ability of fungi to thrive in these different habitats depends on their diverse metabolic capacity. Metabolism is the art of chemical transformation. Fungi are metabolic wizards who can skillfully explore, eliminate, and recover abilities comparable to bacteria alone. Using a powerful enzyme and acid cocktail, fungi can break down some of the most stubborn substances on the planet, from lignin, the toughest component of wood, to rocks. Crude oil; polyurethane plastic; and explosive TNT. There are few environments that are too extreme. Species isolated from mining waste are one of the most radiation-resistant organisms ever discovered and may help clean up nuclear waste sites. The blown reactor in Chernobyl is home to a large population of such fungi. Many of these radiation-resistant species seem to be able to use radiation as an energy source because they grow towards radioactive “hot” particles and plants use the energy of sunlight.

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Thanks to the abundant ability of fungal fruiting bodies to disperse spores, we are all breathing the fungus alive. Some species explode spores. Immediately after launch, the spores accelerate 10,000 times faster than the Space Shuttle, reaching speeds up to 100 km / h. This is some of the fastest movements achieved by living things. Other types of fungi create their own microclimate. The spores are carried upward by the wind flow created by the mushrooms as the water evaporates from the gills. The fungus produces about 50 megatons of spores each year. It weighs 500,000 blue whales and is the largest source of living particles in the air. Spores are in the clouds and affect the weather by causing the formation of rain-forming water droplets and snow, sleet, and hail-forming ice crystals.

Some fungi, such as yeast, which ferment sugar into alcohol to make bread heap, are made up of a single cell that grows by budding in two. However, most fungi form a network of many cells known as hyphae: a thin tubular structure that branches, fuses, and intertwines into the disorderly streaks of hyphae. Mycelium describes the most common fungal habits and is better thought of as a process rather than as a thing: exploratory and irregular tendencies. Water and nutrients flow through the ecosystem within the mycelium network. The mycelium of some fungal species is electrically excited and conducts waves of electrical activity along the hyphae, similar to the electrical impulses of animal nerve cells.

Mycelium creates mycelium, but it also creates a more specific structure. Fruiting bodies such as mushrooms arise from the fact that the hyphal strands are felt together. These organs can accomplish many other feats besides excreting spores. Some, like truffles, produce the aroma that has become one of the most expensive foods in the world. Hairy Ink Cap Others like mushrooms (Coprinus comatus), Although it is not a tough material in itself, it can pass through asphalt and lift heavy paving stones. If you choose an ink cap, you can fried and eat it.If you put it in a jar, the bright white flesh will deliquesce into pitch-black ink within a few days (the illustrations in this book are Coprinus ink).

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The underlying fungal technology helps address some of the many problems that arise from ongoing environmental destruction. Antiviral compounds produced by mycelium reduce colony collapse disorder in honeybees. A process known as mycoremediation allows the appetite of greedy fungi to develop to break down pollutants such as crude oil from oil spills. In mycofiltration, contaminated water passes through the mycelial mat and filters heavy metals to break down toxins. In mycofabrication, building materials and textiles grow from mycelium and replace plastic and leather in many applications. Fungal melanin, a pigment produced by radiation-resistant bacteria, is a promising new source of radiation-resistant biomaterials.

Human society has always revolved around amazing fungal metabolism. A complete ectenia of fungal chemistry will take months to recite. However, despite their promises, and their central role in many ancient human attractions, fungi have received a small portion of the attention given to animals and plants. The best estimate is that there are 2.2 to 3.8 million fungi in the world, 6 to 10 times the estimated number of plant species, meaning that only 6 percent of all fungi are listed. To do. We are just beginning to understand the complexity and sophistication of fungal life.

Excerpt from “Entangled Life”, copyright © 2020 by Merlin Sheldrake. all rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC in New York.

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