Do Mushrooms "Talk"?

Did you know that mushrooms can communicate with multiple organisms within their environment?   

    In this article, were going to go over how mushrooms communicate with other organisms in nature! 

    During the first episode of our podcast, we had Alex Chamizo, a health and wellness advocate and Reiki practitioner, as a guest. Alex and I discussed the benefits of using mushrooms' fruiting bodies and psychedelics. Alex believes that psychedelics are a helpful resource. He uses mushrooms to expand his mind. Alex feels like it's easy for us to develop a routined way of thinking. He told me that psychedelics could give us insight into patterns and behaviors we live into. "We all need that reset." He sees them as tools that help us connect to nature. 

That conversation inspired me to dive deep and research how exactly mushrooms connect us to nature.

 A few initial questions popped into my head, can mushrooms communicate with us, and how exactly do they speak with other organisms in their environment?

 Mushrooms can communicate with each other by using up to 50 words.

According to The guardian, Mushrooms can communicate using up to 50 words! Researchers used mathematics to detect contingencies in their electrical impulses. They noticed that the signals would fire rapidly if the mushrooms found food or noticed the danger.

Royal Society, Open Science, has found that these spikes are often clustered into trains of activity resembling a vocabulary of 50 words. 

So it seems that mushrooms communicate using terms of a similar length to humans words.

    Researchers theorize electrical impulses sent by mycelium could be similar to human language.

They also noticed that mushrooms have a lot in common with us regarding communication. For example, their use of electrical impulses to communicate is comparable to how our neurons use synapsis to send nerve signals throughout the body. 

Mathematical analysis of the fungus's electrical signals seemingly sends strikingly similar patterns to human speech.

Researchers found that fungal word lengths are closely matched to human language! So perhaps the neuro-protective qualities of mushrooms have to do with our similarities in communication. 

    Fungi conduct electrical impulses through structures called hyphae 

Hyphae is what mushrooms use to communicate. It Is similar to how nerve cells transmute information to humans.

    "Hyphae are comprised of hypha, the long filamentous branches found in fungi and actinobacteria. Hyphae are important structures required for growth in these species and are referred to as mycelium." - BiologyDictionary.net

Researchers noticed that electrical impulses fire up when wood digesting fungus finds food. 

The most chatty of the mushrooms are the mushrooms that decompose wood. Split gills, a mushroom that grows on decaying wood, seemed to generate the most complex "sentences" of all the other mushrooms.  

    Mushrooms also help plants communicate underground as well. You can say that they're the post office of the plant community.

Trees communicate with fungus-like how we use the Internet to communicate with each other.

    A complex underground network of fungi connects trees called the mycorrhizal network. This Network is between the plants and the fungi.

Mycorrhizal networks can influence the tree's survival, growth, health, and behavior of the trees linked within their Network. 

    Fungus, a mycorrhizal Network, also finds and absorbs nutrients from the soil to give to the trees within their Network.

    This means that mushrooms help the trees send signals to one another, but they can also transport nutrients to other trees, like how our blood can carry oxygen to our cells. This is how the fungal Network behaves like the post office. 

    Trees use their connection to their fungal Network to feed their seedlings when they're in the shade of other trees. Mushrooms also help trees feed their young.

Fungi can assist trees by sending signals of help to their neighbors.

 For example, when a tree is attacked, it will release chemicals through the fungal Network, warning the other trees of danger.

    Trees can change their functions in Biochemistry.

I bet you are wondering,

 "What's the use of trees communicating with one another if they can't move or actively protect themselves?"

    Trees have a symbiotic relationship with many organisms in their environment beyond mycelium. They can increase toxins and repellents in their tissues to deter pests. 

They can also change their biochemistry by attracting natural enemies of their pests! 

When I learned this, I immediately appreciated the patience trees have for us for not trying to activate biochemicals against us for polluting the land. 

Dying trees can pass the remaining nutrients to their neighbors before they die by sending the nutrients through their fungal Network!

    Humans are not the only species that leave an inheritance to their loved ones when we pass away. 

Trees are reasonable beings. Before passing away, they practically give away the remaining life force and nutrients they have to their neighbors. 

They leave behind a parting gift. 

Mother trees are the biggest and oldest trees. 

Therefore, they tend to be more connected to the fungal network than the other trees.

 Mother trees also nurture their offspring by providing the nutrients they need to prosper.

Trees rely on their fungal networks to communicate and gain knowledge, just as we rely on the Internet to stay connected. 

Mushrooms are symbiotic. They are mutualistic. This is probably why mushrooms are so good for health.

Sources,

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/apr/06/fungi-electrical-impulses-human-language-study

https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/stem-in-context/talking-trees-how-do-trees-communicate

https://biologydictionary.net/hyphae/