Recent rain a boon for Sonoma County mushrooms

After weeks of drenching rain, it’s hard to miss the happy explosion happening around Sonoma County: emerging mushrooms.

With abundant water, varieties are popping up in wild assortments of otherworldly shapes and colors, much to the delight of local hikers and foragers.

But for many mycologists — people who study fungi — their appearance also offers an short-lived opportunity. An estimated 90% of fungal species on Earth have yet to be discovered, according to experts.

And, mycologists say, we’re only just starting to learn how critically important the fungi among us are. Without them, life as we know it could not exist.

The mushrooms we see are just the visible fruiting bodies of microscopic filamentary creatures collectively known as fungi. To reproduce, the fungi produce mushrooms that release tiny spores, which spread in the air until they land in a habitat suitable to start a new colony. The spores are small enough that hundreds would fit on the head of a pin.

They’re an extremely ancient form of life. The first fungi appeared long before the dinosaurs, long before there were plants. Fossil remains of fungi have been found that are 1,000,000,000 years old.

Since then, fungi have branched, multiplied and diversified into more than 1,000,000 species. As other types of life have evolved and appeared on the scene, the fungi have adapted and formed intimate relationships with them.

As a result, fungi are quite literally everywhere today. They’re busy inside our bodies, in plants and soil and in habitats across the planet. They perform a variety of incredibly useful tasks, from breaking down organic matter and wood and supporting the roots of forests to fermenting our wine and making our bread rise.

Even so, it’s estimated that science has only identified 10% or so of the species of all the fungi that exist.

Forest health

A Sebastopol-based project, FunDIS, is leading a new effort to find and catalog some of the world’s “missing” fungi, before they’re lost to climate change, pollution or human development. Gabriela D'Elia is the director of the FunDIS Fungal Diversity Study.

“Science is currently experiencing a ‘fungal awakening,’” she said.

“Fungi predate plants,” she explained. “In fact, they helped plants first move onto land. Today they’re found in virtually all environments: ocean sediments, frozen valleys, on the walls of Chernobyl, our bodies’ orifices, where they help us maintain a healthy balance.”

Fungi are particularly important, D’Elia said, because they connect things.

For example, delicate networks of fungal filaments, known as mycelia, associate with plant roots. Underground, those fungal mycelia form extensive, highly interconnected webs, called mycorrhizal networks.

These networks have been found connecting the roots of pine and fir trees in forests, for example.

And they’re critically important to forest health: Because the fungi can reach much farther through soil than individual tree roots, they can gather and transport water and nutrients to the trees, which they do in exchange for sugars the trees produce.

It’s estimated that 95% of all plants rely on mycorrhizal networks like these, D’Elia said. Without their fungi, the kingdom of plants could not survive.

Fungi are also key to organic recycling in nature. No other organism we know of can break down lignin, the tough material in wood cells and bark.

“Without fungi, D’Elia explained, “the world would be deep in undecayed wood and plant matter, debris everywhere, towering above us.

“Fungi are incredibly useful, and likely in ways we haven’t even yet discovered. They’re essential for making wine and beer, chocolate, all fermentation — yeast is a fungus — and fungal enzymes are now used everywhere in industrial food production.”

Scientists have discovered fungi with anti-bacterial and antiviral properties, and it’s unknown what other beneficial features might be discovered, she said. But that will only be possible if science can explore the fungi kingdom before species are lost.

Extinction

Like other creatures, fungi have preferred habitats. Unfortunately, many of those habitats are under threat or disappearing, , D’Elia said. And we stand to lose species before we’ve even discovered they’re there.

“Species are undoubtedly going extinct faster than we can catalog and map them” she said.

According to FunDIS, of an estimated two to 12 million species of fungi, less than 5% have been named.

The primary goal of FunDIS, D’ Elia said, is to equip citizen scientists and professionals with tools to discover and document fungi and their habitats across North America. After signing up, participants can use the phone app iNaturalist or other available programs to record their finds.

FunDIS is the first regional project to undertake this type of survey and was recently awarded California State funding. Discovery, D’Elia said, is the first step to stewardship and conservation of the often-overlooked fungi kingdom.

For casual and serious mushroom lovers, Sonoma County offers opportunities for guided and expert-led forays, through the Sonoma County Mycological Society, which also holds an annual week-long camp on the wonders and varieties of mushrooms.

Mushroom seeking

Mycologist Melina Kozanitas leads mushroom forays and research in Sonoma County. She’s taught at Sonoma State University and is now a researcher at UC Berkeley.

Part of her interest in leading novice mushroom hunters into the wild is to help dispel fear — the “mycophobia” she finds among Americans, who’ve often been raised to avoid mushrooms, for fear they’re poisonous.

Some mushrooms are definitely lethal when ingested. For safety, Kozanitas advises having an expert clearly identify any wild mushroom before eating it. She teaches her students the poisonous mushrooms first.

In her forays, she also guides them to smell and taste — nibble without swallowing — the mushrooms they find, and to observe the color, texture and shape of their bodies, gills — the structures underneath the cap that distribute spores — and other features.

“Mushrooms have a wide range of flavors,” she said. “Some taste like almond, fresh milled flour, radishes, cucumber, burnt sugar, Italian salad dressing or are peppery and acid.

“Fungi shouldn’t be scary,” Kozanitas said. Learning about them is important, particularly if we’re to appreciate the valuable roles they play everywhere in the environment.

Fungi can be divided into five major categories, or “lifestyles,” she said. There are the predatory species, which prey on microscopic nematodes and invertebrates in soils. There are parasites, like the kind that cause athlete’s foot or dandruff on humans.

The largest group are the saprophytic fungi, the decomposers, which break down plant and animal matter. They produce the majority of mushrooms we encounter outdoors. Symbiotic fungi specifically associate with plants, providing benefits in a codependent relationship. The fifth category are pathogenic fungi, which can cause diseases in humans and other organisms.

“Fungi are powerhouses of transformation,” D’Elia said. “To appreciate them, it’s better to think of fungi as a verb, or a process. They’re always busy, everywhere.”

Stephen Nett is a Bodega Bay-based Certified California Naturalist, writer and speaker, with local nature stories at www.findingcalifornia.com. Contact him at snett@findingcalifornia.com