London - Mushrooms have an extraordinary ability to control the weather, scientists have learned.
By altering the moisture of the air around them, they whip up winds that blow away their spores and help them disperse.
Mushrooms have long been thought of as passive seed spreaders, releasing their spores and relying on air currents to carry them. But research shows they are able to disperse their spores over a wide area even when there is not a breath of wind.
US scientists used high-speed filming techniques and mathematical modelling to show how oyster and shiitake mushrooms release water vapour that cools the air around them, creating convection currents. This in turn generates miniature winds that lift their spoors into the air.
The findings suggest that mushrooms are far more than mechanical spore manufacturers.
“Our research shows that these ‘machines’ are much more complex than that – they control their local environments, and create winds where there were none,” said Professor Emilie Dressaire, from Trinity College in Connecticut. “That’s pretty amazing, but fungi are ingenious engineers.” - Daily Mail