An important type of soil fungi took a Flagstaff researcher by surprise with its ability to migrate around the world.
The study focused on a group of fungi known as Glomeromycota, which forms useful partnerships with plant roots.
The researchers found these fungi all over the world. Almost every type they classified could thrive on more than one continent. That was unexpected, says Nancy Johnson, an ecologist at Northern Arizona University who contributed to the research.
“The spores of Glomeromycota are kind of like the whales of the fungal world,” Johnson says. “They’re really big. People thought that they didn’t move around that much in the dust.”
Johnson says the spores might be hitching a ride on wind, water or animals to get around the globe. The fungi’s genetic makeup is quite similar everywhere, yet it manages to adapt to widely different ecosystems – from Serengeti grasslands to Arctic tundra.
