fungal networks
Soil's hidden web
Fungal networks are the underground systems of threadlike filaments (mycelium) that connect fungi to plant roots and to each other.
These networks allow trees and other plants to share nutrients, water, and chemical signals—a forest's hidden communication system.
Scientists have nicknamed them the wood wide web.
The term appears in ecology, mycology, and popular science writing about forest ecosystems.
- hyphaeFungal filamentous structures
- decompositionBreakdown into simpler parts
- mother treesLarge trees supporting seedlings
- mycorrhizaeFungal-root mutualistic associations
- myceliumFungal filament network
soil health · symbiosis · fungi · spores · chitin · lichens · mutualism · carbon sequestration · roots · mycology · mushrooms · nutrients · trees · old growth · substrate · invisible · decay · ancient