The Oxford University came out with a new study of a fungi,
nicknamed the ‘diversity police.’ These fungi called ‘netted stinkhorn fungus
(Dictyophora sp.) is found in the Belize rainforest. They have found that it
helps regulate the diversity within the forests by making themselves the
dominant species. These fungi spread super quickly between closely-packed
plants of the same species, preventing them from dominating and allowing a
wider variety of plants to grow in that area. In the plant world ‘close
relatives make bad neighbors.’ Long story short, these fungi, along with many
other types help the plant species to be more diverse. If there are not fungi,
then the dominating plant takes over as much as it can, leaving no room for
anything else to grow. When the fungi are placed there, they help keep them separate,
allowing huge amounts of diversity.
I thought this article was going to be a lot more
interesting than it was. It was very boring and really did not have that much
information stuffed into it. I think that people who are researching things
like this and trying to find articles that interest them should not even bother
with this article. I seem to get almost every one of my blogs off of the same ‘Science
Daily’ website, but some are definitely a lot better than others. If I was
someone highly interested in fungi, looking for interesting articles, I guess
this one is a good place to start, but DEFINITELY look more into it. This
article was extraordinarily open ended and really didn’t have much to say
besides these plants helped create diversity. Woohoo. Yay for them. Where is
the action and the fun? This article was very uninteresting and whoever wrote
it had very little information about what they were trying to talk about. I think
they should’ve had more specifications about what other kinds of fungi did this
and what types of plants they helped grow. Another key thing they missed out on
is where all of this is taking place. I mean, is the fungi growing in my back
yard doing this amazing thing too? Or is it ONLY in the Belize rainforest. I’m
not sure, but I was really disappointed with this reading.
Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140122133827.htm
Image: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140122133827.htm
