The ones that make it rain.

ushrooms are incredible organisms. They are that part of the ecosystems here on earth without which all these ecosystems would be incomplete. A big part of the important tasks which mushrooms perform remain unnoticed but life on our planet would not look the same without them.

Many people do not even imagine how big the world of mushrooms really is. When they hear mushrooms they imagine something similar to the ones shown in the images. And they are right but the systems supporting their above-ground parts are thousands of times larger and more complex. Usually, what we see on the ground are their reproductive parts. Organs releasing millions of spores constantly in the atmosphere creating the best possible chances for the next fungi generation to appear.

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THE DEATH OF INSECTS

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WORDS

incomplete  /ɪnkəmˈpliːt/  adjective - not having all the necessary or appropriate parts

reproductive  /ˌriːprəˈdʌktɪv/  adjective - relating to or effecting reproduction

spore  /spɔː/  noun - a haploid reproductive cell which gives rise to a gametophyte

mycelium  /mʌɪˈsiːlɪəm/  noun - the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments

fungi  plural noun - any of a group of spore-producing organisms feeding on organic matter, including molds, yeast, mushrooms, and toadstools

decaying /dɪˈkeɪɪŋ/  adjective - rotting or decomposing through the action of bacteria and fungi 

mycorrhizal network - underground hyphal networks created by mycorrhizal fungi that connect individual plants together and transfer water, carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients and minerals

cellulose  /ˈsɛljʊləʊz,ˈsɛljʊləʊs/  noun - an insoluble substance which is the main constituent of plant cell walls and of vegetable fibers such as cotton. It is a polysaccharide consisting of chains of glucose monomers

scaffolding  /ˈskafəʊldɪŋ,ˈskaf(ə)ldɪŋ/  noun - a temporary structure on the outside of a building, made of wooden planks and metal poles, used by workmen while building, repairing, or cleaning the building

FURTHER READING

You can start by searching how mushrooms feed and reproduce.

Some information has been extracted from the following web pages you can visit:

Boundless Biology - Characteristics of Fungi - 

Boundless Biology - Ecology of Fungi - 

You can search for more information on how clouds form. How mushrooms’ spores help clouds form? What other materials contribute? 

You can also explore Gallium’s lessons on “How clouds form?” and “How trees communicate?”

Thanks to the mycelium mushrooms can feed on and recycle the unneeded decaying leftovers of already dead plants and animals. Without mushrooms, no one except insects was going to recycle in nature. The reuse of the same compounds many times is one of the foundations on which earth’s ecosystems are built upon.

Mushrooms are among the few that can feed on difficultly digestible nutrients like cellulose and wood. 

Products from their work are elements like nitrogen and phosphorus which are rarely found in nature but vital to all plants.

Mushrooms vary in color from white, red, brown, green to black.

Many of their colors are caused by their molecular structure. Some mushrooms with red color have extraordinary protection from ultraviolet rays. 

Apart from everything mentioned mushrooms are the masters of rain. For the rain to drop the moisture from the atmosphere needs to form water droplets and then clouds

The life of every mushroom began with a spore thrown into the atmosphere. If a particular spore lands on a suitable place like the mycelium created by other fungi it starts to grow until it is matured enough to release spores of its own.

Mushrooms contrary to popular belief do not have anything in common with plants. Unlike them, they do not produce their own food. Instead, they feed on decaying matter from plants and animals. This is the reason they prefer dark and wet places. For example, a forest floor is a similar place. Thanks to trees’ crowns, sunlight rarely makes it to the ground. This is the perfect place for mushrooms to create their colonies. Also, they are found in caves and dark and inhospitable at first glance places.

Thanks to their complex system of connections they form a network transferring information and resources among them and all trees connected to them. This is the so-called mycorrhizal network.

But the moisture in the atmosphere cannot turn into droplets by itself. It needs help. And this help is usually in the form of particles of dust, salt, or other organic compounds like bacteria and spores. The water in the air uses these particles as scaffolding to form droplets and then clouds and then rain or snow. This is the little impurity in every drop of rain that falls on the ground.

In places with no human activity like forests particles of organic origin are more abundant. Mostly spores from mushrooms. They help in the formation of rain and are very beneficial for the ecosystems this rain is falling over.