[thedoc (OP)]

It's not just humans that create market economies, exchanging one set of goods for another, plants and fungi also barter nutrients with deals kept in check by market forces, new research has revealed.

Read the whole story on our website by clicking here

  

[Airthumbs]

I will be interested in this one as it has been known for some time that there are symbitoic relationships between plants and fungi... []

What is also interesting is the method a plant uses to detect other plants around it, and also how it responds. I would say that was a more recent discovery.  []

I know also that most trees form relationships with certain fungi and this normally only takes place when the tree matures.

[grizelda]

So if the fungi (government) spends its stipend from the tree (taxpayers) on welfare scams like no-income mortgages, returning only debt to the country, should the tree (taxpayers) cut off funding to the fungi (government)?

[chris]

Are you saying that the house of commons is fungus ridden?! I've certainly heard the phrase rotten to the core being applied!

And I guess, in my view, the answer to your question would be, if we were trees and fungi, "yes".

Chris

[Geezer]

Tut tut!

No politics, please! (Unless you want me to give you an earful  [])

[Freebird11]

Most plants do not just have roots, they have VAMs - vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza.  VAMs are fungi which live in a harmonious relationship with plant roots.  This is a symbiosis in which the fungi provide the plant with extra nutrients from the soil, especially phosphorus and zinc, in exchange for sugars provided by the plants.
   The fungi grow out into the soil, sometimes several centimetres from the root and pick up nutrients at a distance where they are still readily available.The fungal strands (hyphae) then transport the nutrients quickly back to the plant – a kind of rapid transit system - overcoming the slow movement in the soil. Tolerance to drought can be increased as the rapid transit system overcomes slow movement of nutrients in dry soil.There is no good evidence that the fungi actually transport water.

[alexgreen12]

As per I know and read about the fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi colonize the root system of a host plant, providing increased water and nutrient absorption capabilities while the plant provides the fungus with carbohydrates formed from photosynthesis. Mycorrhizae also offer the host plant increased protection against certain pathogens.

[alexgreen12]

I hope this will help everyone to understand fungi better.