Mushroom spore dispersal by convectively-driven winds

TL;DR

This study reveals that evaporative cooling around mushrooms generates convective airflows capable of dispersing spores effectively, challenging the previous belief that spores rely solely on external air currents.

Contribution

It demonstrates that mushrooms actively create convective flows for spore dispersal, a novel mechanism previously unrecognized in fungal ecology.

Findings

Convective airflows can carry spores centimeters per second.

Spores can be lifted over ten centimeters into the air.

Mushrooms benefit from crowding due to self-generated airflow.

Abstract

Thousands of fungal species rely on mushroom spores to spread across landscapes. It has long been thought that spores depend on favorable airflows for dispersal -- that active control of spore dispersal by the parent fungus is limited to an impulse delivered to the spores to carry them clear of the gill surface. Here we show that evaporative cooling of the air surrounding the mushroom pileus creates convective airflows capable of carrying spores at speeds of centimeters per second. Convective cells can transport spores from gaps that may be only a centimeter high, and lift spores ten centimeters or more into the air. The work reveals how mushrooms tolerate and even benefit from crowding, and provides a new explanation for their high water needs.