Part 8
Fungi and bacteria are also an important part of the forest. As you know, they are unable to create organic matter from mineral "raw materials", they need to feed ready-made organic products.
Let's turn first to the mushroom population of the forest. A variety of mushrooms develop in the forest - from large flatheaded mushrooms, such as white, birch, aspen, to extremely small, microscopic, not visible to the simple eye. Some mushrooms penetrate with their thinnest thread-shaped hyphae the fallen leaves and the upper soil layer lying on the ground, others develop as parasites on forest trees, bushes, herbs, causing all kinds of diseases of plants, the third settle on dead wood, subjecting it to decomposition, etc. There are specific fungi that can only grow on fires, on burnt soil. Finally, some smaller mushrooms settle on larger ones, on their hats. The world of forest fungi is extremely rich and diverse. Here you can see a variety of shapes and colours. In addition to the mushrooms, which are familiar to many people and have hats, there are all sorts of other, sometimes very bizarre, mushrooms. As for coloring, here you can find, it seems, all the colors of the spectrum.
The role of mushrooms in the life of the forest is extremely great. They are important, first of all, because they decompose dead plant remainders that accumulate on the soil surface and in its upper layers. But mushrooms are also useful in other ways. Gyphae of mushrooms growing in the soil, weave, like a web, the end of the living roots of green forest plants, forming a mycorrhiza. This commonwealth of green plants and mushrooms is beneficial for both partners, allowing each of them to develop better. Mycorrhiza occurs in most of our trees, many forest shrubs, shrubs and herbs. The role of mushrooms in the forest, of course, is not limited to what we mentioned above, it is much wider and more diverse. Forest fungi are an important part of the forest.
Bacterial population is also quite numerous in the forest, concentrated mainly in the layer of fallen leaves (litter) and upper mineral horizons of the soil. Soil bacteria in the forest are represented by many species, and the total number of bacteria is huge - billions of cells in 1 g of soil. All this mass of tiny cells performs a great and important work on decomposition of dead plant and animal remains. Bacteria, as well as fungi, do not allow to accumulate in the forest dead organic matter, quickly decompose it, it's like a kind of forest "gravediggers". Under the influence of soil bacteria and fungi, complex organic substances of plant and animal residues are transformed into simpler compounds up to carbon dioxide and mineral salts. And these substances are available to green plants and are widely used as "raw materials" in the process of photosynthesis. Both bacteria and fungi living in forest soils do similar work. However, they impose different requirements on the soil environment and develop in different conditions. Fungi prefer more acidic soils, which are usually found in coniferous forests, while bacteria, on the other hand, are confined to less acidic soils, which are characteristic of deciduous forests.
It should be added that the smallest microscopic algae (green, blue-green, etc.) are also found in forest soils. But the number of these microorganisms is relatively small.
The continuation should be...