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Fungi can attack living trees as well
as dead wood. While some species - notably the so-called
'brackets' and the stump-rotting gilled fungi - play an
important role in turning dead trees into humus that can be reused
by living plants, great damage is done to forests by fungal
species that attack healthy trees. Parasitic fungi, such as this Fistulina
hepatica, enter where the bark of the tree has been damaged. |
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Some fungi - notably the Amanitaceae, Boletaceae
and Russulaceae - set up what are termed 'mycorhizal
relationships' with trees. This means the fungus and the tree root
system co-operate, exchanging nutrients so that each benefits from
the presence of the other.
This Amanita muscaria has a mycorhizal relationship with
a pine tree.
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Honey fungus, Armillaria mellea
(shown here growing on an oak tree) attacks living trees and those
that have recently died or been felled.
As stumps decay, a succession of fungus species will
appear until all useful nutrients have been extracted from the
timber. |
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