mycology

What is Mycorrhiza? Definition of Mycorrhiza Mycorrhiza refers to the symbiotic association between specific fungi and plant roots, where the fungus aids in nutrient and water uptake for the plant, and in return, the plant provides the fungus with essential nutrients produced through photosynthesis. Types of Mycorrhizae Mycorrhizae represent diverse symbiotic associations between fungi and ... Re…

Botanist and mycologist Elias Magnus Fries was born on this day in 1794, in Sweden. It might seem odd using a mycologist as a seed for the Sudoku Garden on a botany blog, but at the time mycology was a branch of botany, and Fries was an exceptional mycologist. Between 1821 and 1832, he published three volumes of Systema mycologicum. This study systematically classified fungi based on their fruiti…

During a survey of wood-decaying fungi in the subalpine forests of Southwest China, distinctive corticioid specimens were collected from fallen Abies trunks. Based on a combination of morphological characteristics and multigene phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and nuclear large subunit (nLSU) sequences, these specimens were found to represent a highly distinct and st…

The 10th Symposium of the International Association for Lichenology took place in Trieste, where Pensoft showcased its plant science and mycology journal portfolio. The post Pensoft Joins the Global Lichenology Community at IAL10 in Trieste first appeared on Blog .

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi form symbioses with ~70% of plant species, building hyphal networks that exchange nutrients for host-derived carbon. These tubular networks move ~1 billion metric tons of carbon per year into Earth’s soils. However, we have no quantitative understanding of the hyphal infrastructure required to carry out this resource transfer. We assembled data from […]

Two new species of fungi have been found living on dead coffee plant branches in China’s Yunnan Province.

2025 HALDANE PRIZE SHORTLIST: Xiaojing Zhang discusses her paper “Mycelium biomass and community composition impact nutrient concentration in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi at fine spatial scale“, which has been shortlisted for Functional Ecology’s 2025 Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. About the paper Although AM fungi mediate nutrient exchange between plants and soil, how their own nutr…

The newly-formed Triangle Mycological Society (TMS) recently hosted a Fungal Foray in the Duke Forest. Foraging for and collecting mushrooms (or anything!) in the Forest is strictly prohibited. However, under […]

Syracuse University student Eva Legge receives ESA's Graduate Student Policy Award, SAF's Visiting Scholar Award and an NSF Graduate Student Research Fellowship.

The first ten manuscripts of IMA Fungus—the flagship journal of the International Mycological Association—have now been published on the journal’s new website following its transition to Pensoft’s ARPHA platform. Regarding recent changes to the journal, Editor-in-Chief Marc Stadler said: “The journal has a new editorial board, including many experienced as well as young, excellent scientists … Co…

It’s been just over a month since the 12th International Conference on Mycorrhiza. In these blog posts, we hear from some of the winners of Functional Ecology’s poster and talk prizes! Here, Beatrice Bock – who won our second place prize for her poster ‘Common mycorrhizal networks: exploring the “dark web“‘ – discusses her journey from business to ecology…

The discoveries from the southwest of the country add to the impressive diversity of freshwater fungi in China. The post Two new freshwater fungi species in China enhance biodiversity knowledge first appeared on Blog .

Fungi are mysterious. According to a Kew Report on the State of the World Plant and Fungi from October 2023, we know only about 5% of the estimated 2.5 million species of fungi. Fungi do many unexpected things, especially microfungi and mycelia, and most of them do good things. Fungi need discovery and need protection, […] The post #FEMSmicroBlog: Eight new fungi discovered in 2023 appeared first…

Fungi that do not form fruiting bodies and that we cannot grow in the laboratory cannot be given scientific names. Does it make sense to ignore them? The post Do all fungi matter? Yes, new study argues first appeared on Blog .

Do you ever notice fungi in your daily life? They are everywhere.  Dr. Matt Kasson came on the Joyful Microbe podcast to tell us how awesome fungi are and how we can enjoy them in our everyday lives. He is an Associate Professor of Plant Pathology and Mycology at West Virginia University that studies fungal … The post How to enjoy fungi: Dr. Matt Kasson appeared first on Joyful Microbe .