Fungi crucial to rainforests 'should be protected'

Fungi that play an important role in the existence of rainforests could be facing extinction due to human pollution, a conservation group has warned.

According to Plantlife, fungi are as important to life as the world's rainforests and more should be done to safeguard them before it is too late, reports Wales Online.

Speaking at the recent Royal Welsh Show, Ray Woods, of Plantlife, also said that fungi could hold the key to providing cures for diseases and contribute to energy needs in the future.

"Lower plants and fungi are three billion years old and are at the heart of our life-support systems," he said. "They have been on earth since day one and without them; the rest of the living world could not function."

He also stressed the importance of conserving the Celtic rainforest of west and mid Wales, as it is an "internationally-important gem" which supports a great number of plants in the region.

A fungus known as Gliocladium roseum, which was discovered last year in the Patagonian rainforest, has been hailed by scientists as potentially the first completely new source of green energy.

Written by Sandra Mann

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