Roots of Inter-connectedness: Fungi and Plant Cooperation
/Roots of Inter-connectedness: Fungi and Plant Cooperation
Description
A Mycorrhiza (pronounced MY-CORE-RYE-ZUH) is an association between a fungus and the roots of a plant or tree. Plants and fungi have evolved over millions of years to work together to maximize their ability to thrive in a world of abundance.
A plant’s roots can only dig so deep into the soil, but the mycelium roots of fungi are able to penetrate far deeper due to their thinner strands. While it is much easier for us to see plants as the green specimens that dot our landscapes and the fruiting bodies of fungi that grow above soil, in reality below the soil there exists entwined root systems that connect an entire forest’s ecosystem.
While the plants convert sunlight into energy through chlorophyll and provide the energy to the fungi, the fungi provide the plant with nutrients and water that it otherwise would not be able to obtain on its own. The fungi essentially wraps itself around plant roots creating a super-organism.
The vast majority of plant specimens on our planet have fungal associations in the form of Mycorrhizae. Anywhere there is a plant, there is an abundance of fungi. It is estimated that the majority of the mass of any gram of soil is composed of that of fungi mycelium.
What We Can Learn
Thinking in terms of energy, fungi and plants have learned a long time ago that cooperation leads to the ability to maximize their ability to tap into the planet’s abundance rather than compete in a paradigm based upon scarcity.
This mutually beneficial relationship teaches us that as each of us humans has unique gifts, talents, and characteristics, we are much more able to tap into this abundance when we cooperate together by sharing these gifts freely with one another.
Just like fungi and plants have found a way to connect to nature’s abundance in ecological harmony, we also have the potential to do so by creating sustainable energy sources through solar, wind, hydro, and bio-power. Only through a harmonious connection to the natural elements are we able to successfully thrive as we were always meant to.
