Mushrooms and earthworms work as 'silviculture'
Monday, January 13, 2014 - 09:00
in Earth & Climate
A model, developed by a research group of the School of Forestry at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), has shown how some types of mushrooms (such as truffles, boletus or chanterelles) associated with earthworms can develop a mechanism of environmental engineering. The use of this model can increase the levels of calcium and salts among tree roots which can result in an increase in mycorrhizas and to enhance the development of forests. This phenomenon seems to happen in temperate forests at large scale and this can have a strong impact on carbon fixation and forest management.