Recently did a project on mycoremediation and thought I'd share it... just because it has some links to journal articles you may find interesting.
It's basically an annotated bibliography, nothing special, but it has some discussion of the various journal articles and their relevance.
The basic thing I get from a little bit of research about plant-based remediation (esp. phytoextraction) vs. mycoremediation is that mushrooms have far more promise for soil remediation-- they have wider and more diverse applications to various toxins and soil contaminants. Mushrooms can hyperaccumulate heavy metals, which some plants can do, but plants generally need the help of chelating agents. Mushrooms can break down a variety of organic pesticides and contaminants such as Polychlorinated Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Polychlorinated Biphenyls. This is due to their enzymes which are suited for degrading lignin in wood, which has a similar molecular structure to some organic contaminants. Actually, white-rot fungi can degrade lignin, while brown-rot mainly degrade cellulose. This may be an oversimplification, just something I read in Paul Stamets' book Mycelium Running. They have a wide variety of enzymatic pathways for degrading contaminants. Stamets says that they are sort of a first step in building an ecological process of remediation--first mycelium, then bacteria, plants etc...
Many of these mechanisms are just being understood, and need far more research..
Anyone here have any mycoremediation or plant-based remediation experience?
I'm getting into this because I may try and squat and garden in some urban environments such as detroit, philly, or new orleans.
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Topic: Mycoremediation (Read 4166 times)