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Classical Decomposers
They also compose
They seem to come out of nowhere. In higher latitudes, fungi appear in autumn, following the rain and cooling temperatures. In the tropics, they pop up at any time — sprouting from fallen timber, pushing through soil, dotting the landscape as brackets and baskets, fingers and parasols, and strange forms that unwrap and unwind and live for a day like mushroom mayflies.
But this is only a tiny part of the story. What we see above the surface is a fungal flower, an ephemeral structure with the sole purpose of reproduction. Below the surface, work goes on unseen.
The mycelium is the part of a fungus that carries out the day to day business. It is made up of fibres (hyphae) that ramify through soil, rotting wood or even animal dung. (Fungi are decomposers, after all; they get their nutrition where they can.) This is where it all happens, regardless of what’s going on — or not — above.
Hyphae secrete enzymes that break down the organic matter in which they grow. Those feeding on wood produce cellulases and lignases that take apart the structural material, often leaving behind something that looks exactly like a fallen tree, but has nothing of its…
