摘要
When we think of forests we usually think of trees,plants and animals.But forests could not exist without fungi,which lie at the base of the biodiversity webs that support much of life on Earth.Most fungi live as branching,fusing networks of tubular cells known as mycelium which can make up between a third and a half of the living mass of soils.Globally,the total length of fungal mycelium in the top 10cm of soil is more than 450 quadrillion km:about half the width of our galaxy.These networks comprise an ancient life-support system that easily qualifies as one of the wonders of the living world.Despite that,fungi represent a meagre 0.2%of our global conservation priorities.
