Mycoremediation - Pollution Cure? Fungi are Adept at Decontaminating the Environment

Mycoremediation - Pollution Cure? Fungi are Adept at Decontaminating the Environment

Fungal processes that have been a part of balanced ecosystems for thousands of years may prove vital to cleaning up humanity's environmental mistakes.

 Mycoremediation (mykes, “fungus” and remedium, “a cure”) is a technique that utilizes the vegetative portion of a fungus to remove contaminants from a substrate—usually soil.

Scientists have discovered several ways in which fungi “decontaminate” their surroundings. These biological processes have been taking place for millennia; it is only recently that scientists have learned how fungal organisms remove or neutralize a myriad of substances—many of them toxic—from polluted sites.

As a fungus extends through its environment, its root-like hyphal cells form a network called a “mycelium.” A fungal mycelium excretes digestive enzymes as it grows. These enzymes break down surrounding organic matter which is then absorbed into the fungal cells for nutrition.

Fungi and Pesticides
Pesticide residues in soils represent one of agriculture's most vexing environmental problems. These contaminants--some of which are known carcinogens--often find their way into waterways and aquifers.

Researchers in Britain have demonstrated that inoculating contaminated soils with fungi enhances the degradation of multiple chemicals, such as simazine, trifluralin and dieldrin.

Fungi and Metals
Scientists at the University of Dundee in Scotland have discovered that mycorrhizal fungi can sequester uranium (from spent ammunition) discarded on battlefields.

Fungi and Watershed Protection
In his 1993 book, Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms, Paul Stamets eloquently explained the concept of mycofiltration, a process whereby the mycelium of a fungus can be utilized to protect watersheds from contamination by nearby sites. In essence, a fungal mycelium can be established near a polluted area, and the network of cells will filter harmful microbes, chemicals, and even some heavy metals from the effluent leaving the contaminated site.

Though the concept of mycoremediation is in its infancy, this evolving technology holds great promise. Fungi can be introduced into a contaminated environment relatively cheaply. Once their work is completed, cleanup will be vastly simplified, because fungal metabolism leaves residues that are either harmless or significantly less toxic than the original substrate.

Yeah, we're saved!

Fungi Perfecti is Paul Stamets' website about mycoremediation and how mushrooms helped clean up an oil spill in San Francisco in 2007...