With an estimated five million species found around the world, according to a study in Scientific Reports, fungi inhabit nearly every corner of the world’s most remote and wild places. Fungi have also developed an impressive arsenal of abilities that help them thrive, from glowing in the dark to potentially helping them battle climate change.
“Fungi live and interact with nature on the microscopic level. As a result, the natural world becomes a lot bigger in terms of the habitats and niches they can interact with,” Andrew Wilson, associate curator of mycology at the Denver Botanic Gardens, told Discover.
Fungi don’t just survive in extreme environments — they reshape scientists’ understanding of life’s capabilities. From manipulating insect behavior to building vast underground networks, fungi challenge assumptions about the natural world.
1. Some Fungi Can Control Minds
Certain fungi can control the minds and behaviors of insects.
Ant with a cordyceps fungus
(Image Credit: shunfa Teh/Shutterstock)
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, known as the zombie-ant fungus, is typically found in tropical forests and targets carpenter ants. When infected, ants' minds are altered, prompting them to leave their canopy nests and move to the ground. Here, the ant uses its mandibles to attach to the underside of a leaf and dies. Over the course of between four and ten days, the fungus grows fruiting bodies from the ant’s head.
Another fungus, known as Gibellula attenboroughii — named after David Attenborough — does something similar to O. unilateralis except with cave spiders. Researchers discovered that the fungus would infect certain spiders in Irish and Welsh caves and force them to crawl onto the cave ceilings and sit there until they likely died from exposure.
From the ceiling, it's much easier for the fungus to disperse fungal spores.
Read More: Our Prehistoric Ancestors May Have Snacked on Mushrooms Just Like Some Primates Do Today
2. This Fungus Is the Largest Organism in the World
Armillaria ostoyae
(Image Credit: Tintila Corina/Shutterstock)
The world’s largest organism is a fungus that weighs up to 35,000 tons. Oregon’s “humongous fungus,” Armillaria ostoyae, spans 2,385 acres and is believed to be around 8,650 years old. It’s made up of honey-colored mushrooms and is located in the Malheur National Forest.
While you can see the honey mushrooms on the surface, what really makes this organism so huge is the vast network of mycelium, threadlike structures that stretch out through the soil. It doesn’t have a well-defined shape, only threadlike structures, and it can grow on various substrates.
3. Fungi Can Be Closely Related to Animals
Fungi are genetically and evolutionarily closer to animals than to plants, according to the American Society for Microbiology, diverging from animals between roughly 900 million and 1.5 million years ago. Plants are producers, whereas fungi are consumers like animals, relying on the ingestion of organic materials for their nutrition.
“Fungi and animals occupy the same branch of the tree of life called Opisthokonts. Animals and fungi split off from each other prior to life moving onto land,” Wilson said. “We share part of our lifecycle with fungi through the formation of flagellate cells, or cells that propel through liquid using a moving tail or hair. These cells are used primarily in reproduction, and can be seen in some fungal spores and in animal sex.”
Fungi exist as multicellular or unicellular eukaryotes, meaning they can be composed of many specialized cells. Because of their large genome relative to other microbes, Wilson said fungi can diversify in more varied and impactful ways than other eukaryotes.
“This reality makes fungi more dynamic than plants when it comes to their metabolism and genetic expression. Their physical structure is simple yet can develop complex tissues and shapes. Their ecological interactions and contributions, however, are vast and ever evolving,” Wilson told Discover.
4. Fungi Can Build Communication Networks
Fungal mycelium
(Image Credit: Piedone/Shutterstock)
Just like humans communicate over the internet, trees and plants can do so using fungi. Known colloquially as the wood wide web, according to Smithsonian Gardens, fungi use thread-like structures called hyphae to form a mycorrhizal underground network through the soil. This network allows the fungi to exchange nutrients with the plant and communicate threats such as insect attacks, drought, and diseases.
This chain-like mycelium enables fungi to interact with the natural world at the cellular and molecular levels, allowing them to find nutrients in otherwise difficult-to-access places.
Read More: This Popular Culinary Mushroom Turns Meals into Visions, Making People See “Little Elves”
5. Fungi Can Help Fight Climate Change
This same mycelium network may also help battle climate change. As mycelium extends into the soil, the extensive networks can lock carbon into the ground, keeping it out of the atmosphere.
Although mushrooms can mitigate some carbon emissions, according to Wilson, humans still need to cut back emissions before fungi can meaningfully reduce atmospheric carbon.
“It's important to note that fungi are only able to do this because of the plant's ability to fix carbon through photosynthesis. We'll need more trees for the fungi to grow on to reap the benefits of carbon fixation by fungi,” he said.
6. Some Fungi Glow in the Dark
Glow in the dark mushrooms
(Image Credit: Anna_plucinska/Shutterstock)
Some 110 species of fungi glow in the dark. In some species, the underground mycelium can bioluminesce, while other species’ mushrooms glow. Mushrooms that glow in the dark often emit a steady green light, and the reaction may involve the chemicals luciferase and luciferin.
Scientists believe that glowing mushrooms may attract insects, helping spread their spores. Brazil’s Riveria Valley is home to the world’s highest concentration of glowing mushrooms. At least 27 species have been found at a nature preserve in the region, the IPBio Betary Reserve.
7. How Fungi Can Help in the Future
Scientists are still uncovering new fungal species and abilities, suggesting that many of their secrets remain undiscovered. The fungal kingdom may yet provide new insights into medicine, such as psilocybin compounds that can be used to treat certain mental health disorders.
Fungi could even one day help with environmental restoration and the hidden systems that sustain life. Far from simple, fungi represent one of nature’s most complex, mysterious, and powerful forms of life.
Read More: Meet the Newly Discovered Cousin of the World’s Most Popular Magic Mushroom
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article includes information from a study published in Scientific Reports: Guest edited collection: fungal evolution and diversity
- This article includes information from the American Society for Microbiology: Three Reasons Fungi Are Not Plants
- This article includes information from the Smithsonian Gardens: The Wood Wide Web
- This article includes information from the IPBio Betary Reserve
