PDC Project

This is my final project for my PDC.  Unfortunately its lower resolution than I would like but it wouldn't load otherwise.

 

 

Mycofiltration

Fungal Mycelium

It's been a bit of a mission of mine to preach the gospel of fungi.  Fungi are a monumentally huge part of ecology.  Apart from the odd complaint about mold in the bathroom or the occasional mushroom dish, most people do not know a thing about fungi.  From a Permaculture standpoint, they can be used to create a food crop which has many health benefits and is a good vegetarian source of protein.  They are also important in the composting process.  But their benefits go far beyond this.

Fungi play an integral part in nutrient mobility for plants, especially in forests.  The structure of mycelium allows it to cover and infiltrate large areas, more completely, and with less energy expenditure than plant roots.  Fungi act more like an animal than a plant in that there mycelium are basically a pseudo-stomach, which has infiltrated its food source and digests it outwardly instead within itself like a human stomach.  Because of this, fungal mycelia are extremely well equipped for breaking down raw organic matter.


Plant roots in forests partner with fungal mycelium and bacteria, which are the general store or marketplace of the rhizosphere.  They form physical points where they touch each other or even grow together symbiotically.  Plants will secrete sugars and substance through photosynthesis which the fungi would not normally have access to.  These are used as currency to 'trade' with fungi, and bacteria as well.  If they want copper, they may secrete a sugar which the fungal mycelium will trade for copper.  In bacteria, they may secrete a substance which causes a bloom of bacteria high in iron.  Once the bacteria colony starts to die, the iron becomes available for uptake by the plant roots.  Fungi can also carry messages from one plant to another, like a neural network.  Plants of different species can become aware of each other and even trade nutrients via the fungal mycelium network.

Fungal mycelium perhaps show some of the greatest potential as an instrument of bio-remediation.  Mulch beds can be used to clean water as it comes onto, or leaves a property.  Fungi have the ability to find impurities and lock them up within complex organic molecules, rendering them benign.  Similarly, in his Greening the Desert Project, Geoff Lawton was able to demonstrate that fungi can lock up excessive salt in badly damaged soils, rendering it inert and allowing plants to grow where they could not before.  Paul Stamets, author of the incredible book Mycelium Running, also discusses many ways of using fungi to clean water and soil of impurities.  In one particular instance, a species of fungus showed an outstanding ability to clean up Uranium.  When fruiting, it was found that the mushroom collected Uranium from the surrounding area and concentrated it in the fruiting body at thousands of times the background level.  These mushrooms could then be picked and moved to a proper storage area for processing.

Here in Portland, OR, they are building rain gardens all over the city to clean some of the runoff before it enters the drainage system.  The basin will fill until it reaches full capacity, upon which it moves to an overflow.  Within the rain garden are trees and plants, and generally a thick layer of organic matter which cleans the water before it leaves the system.  My feeling is that there are not enough of these and until we can get municipalities to start implementing them on a wider scale, they will be no more than token gestures of the cities willingness to 'go green'.  It seems in the attaching article that the EPA agrees.

http://fungi.com/blog/items/mycofiltration-for-urban-storm-water-treatment-receives-epa-research-and-development-funding.html