Editing Mycelium (section)

===Potential ecological role ===
Plants appear to communicate within an ecosystem using mycelium, the fungal network produced by mycorrhiza fungi.<ref name=thomas/> Mycelial networks constitute 20-30% of soil biomass, though traditional biomass measures fail to detect them. Some 83% of plants appear to exhibit mutualistic association with mycelium as an extension of their root systems, with varying levels of reliance.<ref name="figu">{{cite journal |vauthors=Figueiredo AF, Boy J, Guggenberger G |title=Common Mycorrhizae Network: A Review of the Theories and Mechanisms Behind Underground Interactions |journal=Frontiers in Fungal Biology |volume=2 |issue= |pages=735299 |date=2021 |pmid=37744156 |pmc=10512311 |doi=10.3389/ffunb.2021.735299|doi-access=free}}</ref> By some estimates, mycelial networks receive well over 10% of the [[Photosynthesis|photosynthesis output]] of their host plants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dosskey |first=M. G. |last2=Linderman |first2=R. G. |last3=Boersma |first3=L. |date=1990 |title=Carbon–sink stimulation of photosynthesis in Douglas fir seedlings by some ectomycorrhizas |url=https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1990.tb00452.x |journal=New Phytologist |language=en |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=269–274 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8137.1990.tb00452.x |issn=1469-8137}}</ref>

This mutualism is initiated by hyphal connections in which mycelial strands infect and attach themselves to plant hyphae, penetrating the cell wall but not entering through the membrane into the plant cytoplasm. Mycelium interacts with the cell at the periarbuscular membrane, which behaves as a sort of exchange medium for nutrients and can produce electrical gradients allowing for electrophysiological signals to be sent and received.<ref name="thomas">{{cite journal |vauthors=Thomas MA, Cooper RL |title=Building bridges: mycelium-mediated plant-plant electrophysiological communication |journal=Plant Signaling & Behavior |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=2129291 |date=December 2022 |pmid=36384396 |pmc=9673936 |doi=10.1080/15592324.2022.2129291|bibcode=2022PlSiB..1729291T }}</ref> In modeling studies, different fungi supply different levels of nutrients and growth-promoting materials, with plants tending to root towards (and thus being infected by) fungi supplying most mineral phosphorus and nitrogen (both essential for plant growth).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tedersoo |first1=Leho |last2=Bahram |first2=Mohammad |last3=Zobel |first3=Martin |date=2020-02-21 |title=How mycorrhizal associations drive plant population and community biology |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba1223 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=367 |issue=6480 |doi=10.1126/science.aba1223 |pmid=32079744 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref>

Mycorrhizal mycelial associations may intensify competition between individuals of the same species, while alleviating competition between species, via the promotion of inferior competitors, thus promoting plant diversity within its network.<ref name=thomas/> In doing so, mycorrhizal fungi promote community ecology, with an added complexity of niche differentiation of different networks and types of mycorrhizal fungi that root at different depths, disperse different organic compounds and nutrients, and have unique interactions with specific species of plants.<ref name=thomas/>