Fungi Are Scammers - Blog Posts

Mushroom fact of the week!

Mushrooms scam trees!

Some fungi get their nutrients by exchanging nutrients with plants. The fungi provides phosphorous and the plant gives carbon in return.

The less phosphorous available, higher price the plant will pay for the phosphorous, giving more carbon for each unit received. However, when there is more available the fungi will receive less carbon for its troubles.

So what these fungi do, being the scammers they are, is transport phosphorous through the mycelium from areas of high abundance to areas of low abundance where it is more scarce and fetches a higher price. This way, the fungi is able to get much more carbon out of the plant.