Food, forests and foraging: Mycelium is more than a mushroom in northern Arizona

While the word “fungus” might bring to mind a traditional mushroom, it is, in fact, only the fruiting body immediately visible to the eye. Just beneath the surface, a network of threads known as the mycelium makes up the functioning structure of these organisms.

“They form mutually beneficial relationships, often with plants,” said Gillain Trimber, a Ph.D. student at Northern Arizona University who focuses her studies on mycology. “On the roots of a pine tree we pull from the ground, we might find 20 local taxa. There can be thousands of different fungi associated with just a few trees.”

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