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Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, threadlike hyphae that exists below the ground or within another substrate. The familiar hat-like head and stalk of a mushroom carries the reproductive structures of ascomycetes and basidiomycetes fungi and is formed of hyphae, but considered separate from the mycelium part of the fungus. It is through the mycelium that a fungus absorbs nutrients from its environment. It does this in a two stage process. Firstly the hyphae secrete enzymes onto the food source which breaks down polymers into monomers. These monomers are then absorbed into the mycelium by facilitated diffusion and active transport. Mycelium is also a vital component in many ecosystems in that it helps increase the efficiency of water and nutrient absorption of many plants and also is vital to the decomposition and breaking-up of plant material to form the organic part of soil and to release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Sclerotia are compact or hard masses of mycelium.
Uses One of the primary roles of fungi in an ecosystem is that of decomposition of organic compounds. Petroleum products, pesticides, that can be contaminants of soil, are organic molecules. Fungi therefore should have potential to remove such pollutants from the soil environment, a process known as bioremediation. Mycelial mats have been suggested (see Paul Stamets) as having potential as biological filters, removing chemicals and microorganisms from soil and water. The use of fungal mycelia to accomplish this has been termed "mycofiltration", although there is no reason to suspect that the process is any different from that of bioremediation using fungi. See also Reference | ||||||||
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