Mycorrhiza: a partnership between roots and fungi

Many fungi grow underground as networks of hyphae called mycelium. Mycorrhiza is an association between fungi and plant roots: plants provide some carbon compounds, while fungi can improve access to water and mineral nutrients. Hyphae sometimes connect the roots of multiple plants, allowing substances to move through a shared network. But the idea that trees routinely “talk” and deliberately help one another through a forest-wide internet is not a general established rule; the ecological importance of these networks is still debated.