Beneath the Olympic rainforest floor lies a vast network of mycorrhizal fungi, which connect to tree roots in a mutual exchange: the fungi supply water and minerals while receiving sugars in return. These underground networks link many trees together, allowing the transfer of nutrients and helping sustain the forest's exceptional productivity. Visible mushrooms are the temporary fruiting bodies of this hidden system.
Look down at the forest floor next time you stop, at all that rotting wood and red-brown needle duff. The real engine of this place is hidden underground. Threads of fungus weave through the soil and lace into the roots of nearly every tree, trading water and minerals for sugar, and quietly passing nourishment from one tree to the next. The mushrooms you see in fall are just the tip of it. Beneath your feet runs a living network that ties this whole forest together as one organism.
Photo: Ron Clausen · CC BY-SA 4.0
