{"id":25015,"date":"2023-01-17T08:59:46","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T08:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied"},"modified":"2023-01-17T09:20:15","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T09:20:15","slug":"biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied","title":{"rendered":"Biodiversity: Fungi are \u2018underloved and understudied\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>I find them absolutely stunning,\u201d says Dr Jassy Drakulic, pointing to a fungus emerging from a log. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole series of stripes from browns to blacks to a pale edge.<\/p>\n

\u201d Mushrooms aren\u2019t known for their ornamental value, but for this scientist they are a thing of beauty. The plant pathologist is on a mission to spread the word that fungi need conservation just as much as plants and animals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re abundant in gardens but until you start looking for them you don\u2019t appreciate how prevalent and how beautiful they are,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

This fungus is named for its resemblance to a turkey\u2019s tail. It belongs to the class of saprophytic fungi, which feed on dead wood, or other decaying matter, and are vital for life on earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaprophytic fungi are still very much understudied and underloved,\u201d says Dr Drakulic. Turkey tail fungi are a common sight on dead logs, trunks and fallen branches across the UK.<\/p>\n

But rather than springing up of their own accord, these specimens have been grown from scratch in a first for the Royal Horticultural Society. Experts grew the fungus in the lab, then transplanted the spores into silver birch logs in the wildlife garden at Wisley Gardens, Surrey.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of a drive to convince the public that fungi play an important role in ecosystems. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of mycophobia towards fungi in the UK,\u201d says Dr Drakulic.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are afraid of poisonous mushrooms, but if you\u2019re not going to go eating the things you find, none of them are going to harm you in anyway\u201d.<\/p>\n

Working on the likes of turkey tail fungus is a departure for the scientist, who has spent years researching honey fungus. Honey fungus is a killer of hedgerows, shrubs and trees and there is no cure.<\/p>\n

But only a very small proportion of the thousands of species of fungi in the world can cause disease in plants and animals. The vast majority are harmless and often beneficial.<\/p>\n

Saprophytic fungi provide food and shelter for wildlife, help plants absorb water and nutrients and break down dead organic matter. Other types of fungi grow on the roots of trees and plants, forming a vast underground network that helps nourish trees.<\/p>\n

In the UK there are thought to be around 25,000 species of fungi \u2013 five or six times more than plants. \u201cWe don\u2019t have names for most of the fungi that exist, so you can\u2019t protect what you don\u2019t know about,\u201d says Dr Drakulic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith fungi, we\u2019re really playing catch up trying to study what we have.<\/p>\n

\u201d An estimated two million fungal species \u2013 more than 90% of all fungi \u2013 have yet to be described by science. Scientists are trying to identify biodiversity hotspots and find out more about this largely unexplored world.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. I find them absolutely stunning,\u201d says Dr Jassy Drakulic, pointing to a fungus emerging from a log. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole series of stripes from browns to blacks to a pale edge. \u201d Mushrooms aren\u2019t known for their ornamental value, but for this scientist they are a thing of beauty. The plant pathologist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,245,241,446],"class_list":["post-25015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-mauritius","tag-world"],"yoast_head":"\nBiodiversity: Fungi are \u2018underloved and understudied\u2019 - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I find them absolutely stunning,\u201d says Dr Jassy Drakulic, pointing to a fungus emerging from a log. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole ser ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biodiversity: Fungi are \u2018underloved and understudied\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I find them absolutely stunning,\u201d says Dr Jassy Drakulic, pointing to a fungus emerging from a log. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole ser ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-17T08:59:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-17T09:20:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673933414.49.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Biodiversity: Fungi are \u2018underloved and understudied\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-17T08:59:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-17T09:20:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied\"},\"wordCount\":492,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673933414.49.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Mauritius\",\"World\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/biodiversity-fungi-are-underloved-and-understudied\",\"name\":\"Biodiversity: Fungi are \u2018underloved and understudied\u2019 - 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