ECOLOGIST and environmental photographer Alison Pouliot wants to introduce the community to some of its natural \u201cunruly renegades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Pouliot will explore the fungi of Woowookarung Regional Park at an upcoming interactive and illustrated Eureka Centre presentation.<\/p>\n
Fungi is a huge but often unseen and unsurveyed part of the Park\u2019s ecosystem, and there are hundreds of species that live throughout the green space.<\/p>\n
Some are microscopic, while others are clearly visible, and not all types of fungi appear like a toadstool with a stalk and cap.<\/p>\n
\u201cBiodiversity has traditionally been seen as just flora and fauna, but actually fungi is a big part of nature,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Woowookarung, there\u2019s been a big move to track the koalas, grass trees and orchids, but fungi are pretty much the forgotten tapestry that hold it all together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe roots of almost every plant in the Australian landscape are intimately entwined with fungi.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we see a mushroom or fungus pop up, that\u2019s just the reproductive bit connected to the actual underground organism itself. Connective fibres that link up trees, shrubs and provide food for digging mammals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Pouliot said fungi aerates soils, assist plants to access nutrients and water, like the eucalypts and acacias in Woowookarung, and helps them to be more disease and drought-resistant.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnruly fungal renegades might inspire the innovative thinking needed to navigate an uncertain future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n