Plants have "come up with" a number of creative ways to spread their seeds, but creating their own source of winds may be the most impressive.
Researchers once believed mushrooms simply dropped their spores into the wind and allowed them to catch a ride, new research suggests the process is much more complicated, an American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics news release reported.
"Most people, even scientists, think of mushrooms simply as machines for producing spores," Marcus Roper of the University of California, Los Angeles, said. "The more spores each machine produces, the more likely it to successfully colonize new habitats."
Researchers noticed mushrooms could still release their spores when the air was extremely still.
The team used a combination of mathematical modeling and high-speed videography to look at the spore dispersion methods of oyster and Shiitake mushrooms.
The team noticed the mushrooms created their own wind by releasing cool water vapor. The vapor reduces the temperature of the surrounding air which creates convective cells that are able to manipulate the air. The process makes it so that the "mushrooms are able to disperse their spores even in the most inhospitable surroundings," Emilie Dressaire, a professor of experimental fluid mechanics at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn, said.
These cell-created air movements are believed to be strong enough to lift the spores and carry them to areas more beneficial for the mushroom's population.
The team suggested all types of fungus that produce mushrooms may use this spore dispersal method; Including fungus that can cause disease and infection in "plants, animals, and humans."
"Our research shows that these 'machines' are much more complex than that: they control their local environments, and create winds where there were none in nature," Dressaire said. "That's pretty amazing, but fungi are ingenious engineers."
