Whether they are large, colorful, edible… or not, mushrooms are still largely unknown although they are essential to ecosystems and will be on the agenda of the discussions at the next UN conference on biodiversity, which begins Monday in Colombia .
“Mushrooms are essential for all terrestrial ecosystems”explains Amy Honan, professor of mycology and fungal biodiversity at the University of Oregon, to AFP.
In a forest near Port Angeles, in Washington state, the scientist inspects the surroundings.
In this region of the northwest of the United States, it is difficult not to come across a mushroom on your path while hiking, as the species proliferate in favorable conditions. But they are only the emerging part of these organisms, neither truly plant nor truly animal.
A weekend is even dedicated to them each year in the region to raise public awareness of their crucial role.
Mushrooms, essential to the life of plants, protect them from salt, heavy metals and diseases, specifies the scientist. “Without mushrooms…plants would not exist. We need plants for oxygen. So the world as we know it would not exist”.
They also break down dead organic matter and recycle carbon and nutrients, facilitating the plant’s life cycle, she explains.
The mushroom “spits out different enzymes so it breaks down its food externally and then swallows it like a smoothie”adds Amy Honan, affirming that it is closer to the animal than the plant.
Of the approximately 2.5 million species of mushrooms on Earth, 150,000 have been listed by scientists, or only 6%, explains the mycologist.
In comparison, she estimates that we know 98% of vertebrates, 85% of plants and 20% of invertebrates on the planet.
Picking
The scientist is currently carrying out a study with mycologist Graham Steinruck on fungal biodiversity. On the occasion of the annual festival, they offered to take participants on a picking trip to introduce them to the different species and learn how to describe them.
“I think that the more we discover and document mushrooms, the more it tells us about biodiversity but also about how to better take care of the earth”explains Graham Steinruck.
Mushrooms in Port Angeles, Washington, October 17, 2024 / Robyn Beck / AFP
For humans, it can also help “heal us and perhaps eventually (support us) in other areas like industry.”
Benefits that piqued the curiosity of Naomi Ruelle, who came from New York to participate in her first mushroom picking.
“I learned so much”she enthuses, presenting her harvest of specimens ranging from a yellow parasol-shaped mushroom to an enormous, fleshy species.
“It was really interesting to see the different species. They are obviously going to take them to the laboratory and I am quite curious to learn a little more”she confides.
COP16
The role of mushrooms will be on the agenda of the COP16 discussions on biodiversity which opens Monday in Colombia.
This meeting brings together 12,000 participants from some 200 countries including 140 ministers and seven heads of state.
A mushroom in Port Angeles, Washington, October 17, 2024 / Robyn Beck / AFP
Its ambition is the implementation, still timid, of nature conservation objectives by 2030.
According to the British media The Guardian, Chile and Great Britain should on this occasion ask to recognize mushrooms as “an independent kingdom of life in laws, policies and agreements, in order to better preserve them and adopt concrete measures allowing them to maintain their beneficial effects on ecosystems and people”.
For Graham Steinruck, better protection of this species would indeed be good news.
