While the chemical process through which mushrooms generate light is still unknown, U.S. and Brazilian researchers behind a recent study believe that they’ve unraveled the mystery behind why some mushrooms glow in the dark.
The study’s findings, which were published in the journal Current Biology, indicate that some mushrooms glow in order to attract insect visitors such as ants, beetles, flies and wasps who will spread their fungal spores around, furthering their efforts to produce and survive.
Cassius Stevani of Brazil’s Instituto de Quimica-Unversidade de Sao Paulo was quoted by Discovery News as having explained that “fungi make light so they are noticed by insects who can help the fungus colonize new habitats”.
It appears that fungi make light so they are noticed by insects who can help the fungus colonize new habitats
Researchers behind the discovery were studying Neonothopanus gardneri, which is one of the largest and brightest species of bioluminescent mushrooms.
Magic mushrooms — the psychedelic kind which contain psilocybin, not the kind that glow like the ones observed in this study published on March 19 — were accidentally legalized in Ireland for 48 hours and in a set of reports unrelated to this recent study on glowing mushrooms, researchers found no link between psychedelic mushrooms and mental health problems.
Stevani notes that without N. gardneri active in the forest’s ecosystem, “cellulose would be stuck in its form, which would impact the whole carbon cycle on Earth”.
Without them, cellulose would be stuck in its form, which would impact the whole carbon cycle on Earth […] I dare to say that life on Earth depends on organisms like these.
In order to figure out just how the mushrooms emit a green insect-attracting glow, researchers fashioned fake mushrooms out of acrylic resin and lit some of them on the inside with LEDs before placing them out in the forest. The researchers then realized that their light-producing fake mushrooms were more apt to attract insects which lead their explanation of why mushrooms glow.
Do you agree with the study’s findings that bioluminescence exhibited in some mushrooms is attributed to the fungi’s effort to enhance propagation through the enlistment of spore-carrying insects?
