‘Fungi form a kingdom of life — they show us how we all need others to live’

Giuliana Furci is a mycologist and co-chair of the IUCN Fungal Conservation Committee. She tells Times Evoke about the feats of fungi:

I am a mycologist and study fungi. For 25 years, I have been documenting fungal diversity worldwide and assessing the conservation status of species, working towards their legal protection in national and international fora. About ten years ago, I founded a nonprofit, the Fungi Foundation, which, apart from mapping fungi’s ancestral uses, helping to conserve them and conducting expeditions to discover new species, also works internationally to bring the world’s first curriculum to study mycology at school.

A GOLDEN KING: The Austropaxillus statuum is a species of fungi from the Serpulaceae family, found in Patagonia, abundant around Nothofagaceae host trees. Photo Courtesy: G. Furci



Fungi are incredible beings — neither plants, nor animals, they are a body of species as large as both. Inside their world are yeasts, moulds, lichens, mushrooms and conks or wood ears. Fungi carry out incredible feats — they decompose matter, which is a synonym for recycling. When a leaf falls on a forest floor, fungi turn that leaf back into elements that can be used to compose another life form.



Fungi also perform a symbiotic role. No tree can live without fungi on or in its roots. Plants can only synthesise nutrients from the soil with fungi. When life on Earth emerged from an aquatic ecosystem billions of years ago, animals and plants could only grow with fungi. Without them, humans wouldn’t be able to live because there’d be no plants on land, no oxygen generation or the creation of food. Fungi are one of the most diverse kingdoms but mycologists around the world know only between five to ten percent of their varieties — over 90% is unknown. Of the known kinds, we estimate there could be over five million species of fungi worldwide. These are ubiquitous but always associated with other organisms.



As they are so close to their symbiont, species of plants and animals powerfully shape where fungi are — a fungus specific to pine trees, for instance, won’t be seen on oaks. Shaped by their symbionts, their story teaches us that individuals don’t really exist — we are all dependent on others to live. We study fungi with multiple technologies, from microscopes to genomics, molecular analyses, phylogenomic and DNA analysis — these help us study species, their relatedness, ancestry and future. Fungi are now clearly impacted by climate change, the use of chemicals, habitat loss and fragmentation. In 2011, the IUCN’s criteria used to red list plants and animals were adapted to be applied to fungi as well. Some fungi are critically endangered today — importantly, these are associated with critically endangered plants and animals.




A SHY QUEEN: The rare Sowerbella rhenana is found in the cool North Temperate zone across Europe, North America and parts of Asia — with years between its fruitings, it now faces habitat loss due to logging. Photo Courtesy: G. Furci

They can only grow with them and therefore, face grave threats. Fungi needs to be added to flora and fauna in environmental legislation. An important conservation fact is, fungi is integrally tied to habitats. To protect plants and animals, we can take them to reserves, zoos, seed banks and botanic gardens, conserving them ex situ. However, you cannot separate fungi from their habitat. Fungal conservation is integrally habitat conservation. Multiple fungi, for instance, grow only with existing trees — to conserve them, you must protect the living tree. I’ve seen many fascinating kinds of fungi and am intrigued by the entomopathogenic kinds, which can grow on ants, beetles or arachnids, some fungus even controlling locust plagues. It would be incredible to research the legendary diversity of fungi in India’s Eastern and Western Ghats. Both the chair and treasurer of our Foundation’s board are Indian women and we are very inspired to study fungi varieties in India.



THE OLD COURTIERS: Hydropus is a fungi from the Marasmiaceae family, which contains about 100 known species — found from Australia to Japan and Europe, these need old mixed forests to grow in, which now face both climate change and tree clearing. Photo Courtesy: G. Furci



As humans, we need to value fungi deeply. While some species — their diversity is large enough for button mushrooms and morels to be as distantly related as a flea and an elephant — cause diseases, they also provide essential goods. Yeasts give us food preservation and liquid sterilisation techniques. Antibiotics come from moulds and penicillin and statins from fungus. The medicines we need for organ transplants come from fungi. This amazing kingdom of life enables us to eat, heal and live. Conserving it means preserving ourselves.