How Fungi Create the Amazon’s Clouds

Summary

New research has linked fungi to the Amazonian clouds that cover the sky out of nowhere. Clouds consist of water clinging to carbon compounds. However, this new study found that potassium is also key in cloud formation because it is good at getting the carbon compounds to stick together. The Amazon being a moist place gets its carbon aspect from the byproducts of plants metabolisms, but where do they get the high levels of potassium from? It turns out that plants and fungi can release potassium into the air under certain conditions. Fungi in particular spray out potassium- rich fluid when they shoot out their spores. Add to the fact that microscopic fungi cover nearly a third of Earth’s land surface, and cloud formation seems quite easy to understand. As all life in the Amazon depends on rain from the sky, the sky depends on the forest for nourishment, adding another ring to the circle of life.

Relevance

This article relates to our studies of Fungi. We learned about spores and how fungi can release them in incredibly large numbers. Though there is little mention of it, the article also sites plants as potassium releasers and we are currently learning about plants.


http://science.time.com/2012/09/05/how-fungi-create-the-amazons-clouds/

written by Veronique Greenwood
Published Sept. 5 2012