Mycologist: mushrooms play a very important role in the ecosystem

In Poland occurs ok. 1400 species of edible mushrooms and 200-250 species of poisonous ones. Most of us, however, collect mushrooms amateurishly and the average Pole is able to recognize at most 15 edible species, m.in. boletes, bay boletes, bay boletes, mushrooms, chanterelles, cabbage or green gooseberries.

Advanced mushroom hunters, whoowho regularly go mushrooming and have more experience, are able to recognize ok. 40-60 genresow – mowi PAP dr. hab. Malgorzata Ruszkiewicz-Michalska from the Laboratory of Algology and Mycology at the University of Lodzki.

A small percentage of fungusow occurring in Poland – ok. 200-250 species ofow – are poisonous mushrooms, while deadly poisonous ones are only a few. And this is where the sorrel toadstool comes to the fore, although mycologists prefer to call it the green toadstool because of the frequent confusion in the media between the name of the sorrel toadstool and the brazil toadstool, an entirely different, edible mushroom.

– Green toadstool in addition to having very dangerous poisons, damaging m.in. kidneys or liver, roalso very poound give symptoms of poisoning, which is insanely dangerous,” added Dr. Ruszkiewicz-Michalskaya.

As she stressed, the key when collecting mushroomsow is that you should only collect those thatore we are actually able to ripochew. And since it is easy to make a mistake in this case, so it is better to stay with well-known species.

The expert advises that if doubts arise as to whether we have picked edible mushrooms, you can go to the Voivod ofoThe Sanitary and Epidemiological Station. – In all major cities there should be, and usually is, a fungist, whoory has the authority to judge whether it is an edible or poisonous species. But if we don’t have such an opportunity, by far the best option, if we have such doubts, is simply not to eat such a mushroom, she added.

It is also important what we collect mushrooms in. They should not be collected in plastic or foil packagingowki. Edible mushrooms, by storing them in such conditions even just at the time of harvesting, can become dangerous to us due to the bacteria that multiply in such conditions, and the so-called “green mushrooms”, which have been found to be a very dangerous source of bacteria. fungi „mold”, ktore produce rotorts of poisons. – The fungus itself in this case is not poisonous, but such a wayob harvesting and storage roalso poź later, that is, in sealed plastic containers, is dangerous,” added the biologist.

The dishes with mushroomsow should not be given to children up to 6-8. age and those over 70 years of age. – Because they are more vulnerable in any poisoning, they dehydrate more easily, lose mineral salts, and diarrhea and vomiting are much more dangerous in their case than in osob adults in good condition,” pointed out Dr. hab. Ruszkiewicz-Michalska.

Expert zwroshe pointed out that we often don’t even realize what an important role fungi play in the ecosystem – primarily decomposing plant, animal and also fungal matter.

– Please realize that if there were no mushroomsow decomposing wood, then within 25-30 years the globe would run out of carbon dioxide. This would mean that plants would have nothing to absorb in order to conduct photosynthesis. There would be no plant growth, alonow, because there would be no basic substrate. That is, the role of fungiow is gigantic, although very rarely realized. One can imagine that without fungioin our forests and the world would look like a huge graveyard of undecomposed remainsow, plant, animal and fungal,” added the mycologist.

Fungi are also parasites, which in the case of the ecosystem is an extremely important and not at all negative role, because they affect whichore individuals survive, and whichore will die because they are weakened. In their place, space is opening up for other organisms to liveow. Fungi constitute e.g. 60-70 percent. all organismow that parasitize plants.

Dr. Ruszkiewicz-Michalska zwroShe pointed out that we are one of the few country’soin Europe, but also in the world, in whichoThe number of species is knownow fungusow. It is estimated that all fungiow – zarowno large as well as those thatorych cannot be seen with the naked eye, living in the walls of theolk, plants or animals and lichenoin, there are in Poland approx. 14.5 thousand. speciesow.

Of this ok. 4.5 thousand. are large, macroscopic fungi thatore we see in the forest, m.in. cap fungi, hubo fungi, puffballs. Amongod them is ok. 1400 speciesoin the fungusoin edible. – But it’s not just those mushrooms that are tasty, ktore most often collected. Of course, there are amongod them the most noble ones, but most are simply edible mushrooms, that is, they do not cause poisoning and do not have negative health effects,” she pointed out.

Not everyone knows that in Poland there are protected not only someore animal or plant species, but also fungi – total of 117 speciesoin fungiow is subject to strict and partial protection.

– In the case of species protection, it is very important not to collect speciesoin, whichoWe do not need binoculars or a telescope to see this phenomenonoin, but roalso collecting mushrooms – do not rake the wallolows, not to do it in the wayob destructive. Each species has its own role, so do not destroy them mindlessly,” stressed the biologist.

In the case of fungusow is also very important to protect the habitats in which theyorych occur. It is much more difficult, because the whole complex must be taken into accountoł factorow. In this case, it is necessary to take care, for example. In the case of industrial investments, do not change the conditionsoin water, soil, to reduce emissions, on ktore fungi also react,” concluded Dr. hab. Malgorzata Ruszkiewicz-Michalska.