Fungal Feeding

How do mushrooms eat?

Most of us understand mushrooms to be decomposers though many of the mushrooms we see are found on soil or even living trees.

You might be surprised to learn that fungi get nutrition in a variety of ways, and understanding how it is getting its nutrition can be a great way to narrow down the possibilities when trying to identify an unknown mushroom. Alternatively, when you are looking for a specific mushroom, understanding how that species feeds is critical for locating the appropriate environment for that mushroom.

Let’s start with oyster mushrooms in the Pleurotus genus. These mushrooms are decomposers and are most often found on dead or dying trees. For me the most common place I find them is on alter and other deciduous or broadleaf logs. Decomposers are also known as saprophytes. They break down dead plant matter that is very difficult for other organisms to use as nutrition.

A second type of fungal feeding is parasitic. We most often see this as mushrooms growing on live trees but some species can grow on other mushrooms, or even insects.

My favorite type of fungal feeding is understood to be a successful partnering among certain fungi and plants. Most often the plant partner is a woody shrub or tree. This relationship known as mycorrhizal involves soil-dwelling fungi interfacing with a plant’s roots to exchange water and nutrients with the plant. This is a mutually beneficial relationship that helps both the mushroom and the plant.

Some of the most familiar mycorrhizal mushrooms are chanterelles, hedgehogs, king boletes, and some species of morel. Understanding the types of trees with which these species can form partnerships is very helpful for locating the best environment to find specific mushrooms. For instance, in the pacific northwest one is most likely to find chanterelles growing with Douglas Fir and Western Hemlock.