FungiBank - The significance of diversity and uniqueness in native fungi

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The significance of diversity and
uniqueness in native fungi

The diversity and uniqueness of native fungi in Australia is significant as it has helped sustain large trees and dense shrublands in the infertile soils of the woodland agricultural regions. The plants have managed without fertiliser applications on soils that are low in plant-available nutrients and in some cases enduring a hot dry Mediterranean climate. Similar environments elsewhere in the world do not have forests but have shrubby vegetation.
How have large trees grown naturally in such environments?
In part it is because many Australian forests and woodlands have effective conservation of nutrients through efficient soil nutrient capture and cycling processes. The fertility of soil is largely maintained by soil micro-organisms. Fungi help the tight nutrient cycling processes, minimising nutrient losses and making captured nutrients available to plants and animals.
Eucalypt ecosystems have a naturally evolved high level of fungal diversity. Diversity among fungi which are involved in crucial nutrient cycling processes is likely to have contributed to sustainability of the woodlands in the past