The Last of Us mushroom webs exist in real life

In the second chapter Last of us we see how infected communicate with each other, so if someone offends one, everyone else flocks to the place of attack, even if they are far away. They say that once they get infected with the fungus cordyceps, they develop this ability to communicate at a distance, as if they were connected by an invisible thread. And this is something that has its own scientific basis, because mushroom nets they exist in reality.

However, while in Last of us we see something dangerous in them, actually mushroom-shaped networks good for the environment. At least some of them. Those known as mycorrhizal networksthey act like freeways which carry nutrients underground to large areas of land. They exchange these nutrients among themselves, as well as with vegetation. In addition, they help modify the soil, making it more fertile and serve as a carbon store for wipe atmosphere.

At the other extreme we find rhizomorphs. It is a morphological adaptation of some fungi that allows them to grow and communicate underground, spreading their infection to points far away from where other fungi spawn. Hence, these mushroom networks have their good and bad sides. AT Last of us We have already seen the bad, now we have to wait and see if there is something good. They may surprise us.

Fungal structures we need to know

The mushroom has several parts; but to be able to talk about fungal networks, we need to know only some of them.

To start, fruiting body This is what we sometimes call a fungus or a fungus because it is usually something that comes out of the ground and we can see it with the naked eye. It is the reproductive part as it has spore-forming structures that vary from one species to another. It should be noted that the fruiting body doesn’t always come out of the ground. In some species, it may also be underground, although the functions are the same.

On the other hand, anything that is not the reproductive part of the fungus is known as the vegetative body. It has two important and closely related structures. On the one hand, the filaments come from spores known as hyphae and is formed by a network of elongated and cylindrical cells surrounded by a chitin cell wall. In turn, these hyphae are grouped into masses. looks like plant rootsknown as mycelium. Both concepts are important as they are closely related to the fungal networks mentioned in Last of us.

Two faces of mushroom nets

In fact, contrary to what the epidemiologist interviewed in the first chapter Last of uswithout fungus Search control or kill someone. They just survive like other living beings. Sometimes they have to parasitize others, while at other times, as a side effect of their own survival, they find them useful. We see what is benefit and harmbut it would also be inappropriate to talk about good or bad fungal networks.

First, in mycorrhizal networks of fungi, plant roots and fungal mycelium connect with each other, increasing the efficiency of transport. both nutrients and water. In fact, it has been studied that during periods of drought, these underground roads are necessary for plants to use the small amount of water that reaches them and distribute it optimally. In addition, the fungus can exchange certain nutrients with plants. For example, they are known to contribute 80% of the phosphorus to host plants.

This makes them very useful. But this is not the only advantage. And the fact is that since fungi need carbon to build their networks underground, they are a carbon dioxide sink that goes unnoticed. On the role of trees in capture carbon from the atmospherebut fungal networks also play a very important role in this regard.

Charlotte Roy (Wikimedia Commons)

The other side of the coin is some mycelial strands, also known as rhizomorphs. Again, we are talking about networks of mushrooms that grow underground, but usually connect with each other, not counting the plants.

For example, they can carry nutrients to the fruiting body located distance kilometers. In addition, wood decay fungi can use these communication pathways to find new places to grow. This makes them very difficult to remove. For example, behind tree trunks, if we have a piece of furniture or a rotten piece of wood, no matter how much we clean it, a network of fungi may have already spread underground and are looking for other wood to rot. . For this reason, some mushrooms, such as Serpula lacrimans D Meruliporia incrassatahave become a major problem in homes in Europe and the US, respectively.

Underworld to be discovered after The Last of Us

Thanks to Last of us many people heard about mushroom webs for the first time. However, there are scientists who have long been trying to raise awareness of its existence and importance.

In fact, going back to the networks of mycorrhizal fungi, there is a project being promoted Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) and advised the conservationist Jane Goodallwhose goal is to map, recognize and protect these underground highways. It involves scientists from Netherlands, Canada, USA, France, Germany and UK. However, sampling for research is carried out in other parts of the world. In fact, it started last year in Patagonia. There are still a few months left before its end, as 18 months are planned from its start. Soil samples must be taken at that time in order to catalog these largely unknown fungal networks.

And the fact is that mushroom networks are not only Facebook infected from Last of us. In addition to fiction, they have many advantages and disadvantages. Real, like life itself.