Mushrooms and Other Fungi

All mushrooms are fungi, but not all fungi are mushrooms!

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Fungal spores drop from the gills on the underside of these mushroom caps

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Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, though they are more closely related to animals between the two! Mushrooms are the fruiting body, or reproductive portion, of a whole other kingdom of organism: Fungi. Mushrooms are one of the ways that a fungus can release its spores, which get carried by the wind or water to find a new place to grow.

Every mushroom is a fungus, but not every fungus is a mushroom. Many fungi are actually microscopic, living in odd places like insect legs or inside plant tissues. They can form a mutually beneficial relationship with the roots of certain plants that helps them grow on land. Fungi can often absorb water and nutrients better than plant roots can on their own, some of which is shared with the plant. In return, the plant shares some of the sugars it creates by photosynthesis. These mutualistic relationships are called mycorrhizae.

Fungi can be found almost everywhere. It is estimated that there are about six species of fungus for every one plant species. Colorado National Monument is home to over 500 species of plants, so it is estimated that over 3,100 fungal species exist here as well! Although most of those probably don’t produce visible mushrooms, there are a few that can be spotted with a keen eye. The desert scaly-stalked puffball and mini desert puffball are small mushrooms in the Agaric family. Both fungi feed on dead plant material and release their spores through a hole in the round top of the mushroom. Another agaric, shaggy mane, can also be found in the park. When it is ready to release its spores, the cap of the mushroom turns black and ‘melts’ into a liquid to carry them.

Mushrooms can appear in various areas in the park. Shaggy mane, for example, prefers the more wet, riparian areas in the canyons. The puffballs can be found on the dry ground in areas dominated by sagebrush. Still others, like Pyrofomes juniperinus, attach themselves to the trunks of juniper trees.

 

Crustose lichens grow tightly against surfaces and can turn any rock into a colorful palette

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Lichen

Yet another type of fungus engages in another mutualistic relationship to survive. The yellow, white, orange, black, or green spots covering many of the rocks at the monument are actually alive! They’re called lichens, and they are a combination of an algae or cyanobacteria inside a fungal host. While some lichens might look like mosses, they are not the same (moss is a vascular plant, so it’s in a whole different kingdom). Lichens can be important indicators of environment health. They absorb a lot of toxins and heavy metals from the air, so scientists can use them to determine changes in air quality.

Lichens also grow on mature soil crust, which is often composed of all of the above!