2023-10-13 16:32:48
There are 2.5 million species of mushrooms on Earth. pilipphoto – stock.adobe.com
INTERVIEW – According to a report by British botanists, there are 2.5 million species of mushrooms on Earth… of which more than 90% remain unknown. However, they have an essential role in ecological balance, explains a mycology expert.
Marc-André Selosse, professor at the National Museum of Natural History, expert in mycology, is the author of The origin of the world (Ed. du Seuil, 2021). He welcomes the synthesis and popularization effort led by the British institution RBG Kew.
LE FIGARO. – In their report, British botanists estimate that there are 2.5 million species of mushrooms, including more than 90 % are still unknown. What do you think of these numbers? ?
Marc-André SELOSSE. – They clearly show the gap in diversity and current knowledge between plants and fungi: the reign of fungi stands out as ten times larger and ten times less known than plants. We must consider that the mushrooms found in the woods are only an infinitesimal and temporary part of microscopic networks of filaments that extend in the ground, or elsewhere… even in the water! I am surprised by the 2.5 million, it is an extrapolation and I think we are far from the mark. According to…
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