Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Satiated, and by now much larger, the fungus continues to explore the forest floor with
its intelligent mycelia.
The four strategies give fungi phenomenal flexibility in responding to their immedi-
ate surroundings. With their use, fungal mycelia spread themselves through their habit-
ats in a multitude of continually changing patterns that rapidly reconfigure as conditions
change. These patterns have many characteristics in common with the migration paths
of wildebeest, the flow of traffic, and even with the foraging patterns of ants in tropical
forests. All of this without a nervous system and without centralised organisation. What
can it be like to be a fungus? How does it feel to squeeze yourself out through narrow
tubes in all directions through the soil; to have no mouth, no gut; to sense the world
around you through tough chitin coverings; to have several of your body parts digesting
wood in numerous far-off places in the forest; to draw in nutrients through most of your
hollow, spindly body? It's hard to imagine this unseen intelligence, smeared out in the
soil beneath our feet. But as we shall soon discover, it is an intelligence that has helped
to keep the earth habitable in the face of our ever-brightening sun.
The fungal intelligence beneath your feet
Find a forest, woodland or heathland in which you can walk undisturbed.
Spend some time looking for fungi under leaves, on rotting and living wood and
in the soil. Meet these fungal others with reverence and respect. Imagine their in-
visible mycelia creating networks of dense fungal pipelines that connect the plants
around you, keeping the entire ecosystem healthy.
Now walk slowly amongst the plants. Imagine that you are walking on the vast
domed scalp of a great giantess. The trees and other plants are her hair, the soil
her skin, the fungal mycelia underfoot her sensitive nervous system.
Feel how the news of each footstep spreads out through the mycelial network
beneath your feet in a slow motion ripple, informing the trees and other plants
around you of your presence. You see the ripples slowly spreading out in your
wake and then slowly die down as they vanish into the vegetation.
The mycelia have brought you into the awareness of the great giantess.
