Mushrooms are detritivores or decomposers, growing on and digesting decomposing materials. It’s of course nomal for them to grow out of the soil where it’s rich of nutrients and decomposing materials, but ive seen a lot of mushrooms grow out of rocks or stones on the ground. Rocks aren’t even mostly composed of decomposing organic materials but how or why do Mushrooms still grow on them?
In: Biology
In biology most energy comes from the sun. It’s used by photosynthetic organisms to make chemical energy which is then consumed by other organisms. A photosynthetic organism like a lichen grows on the rock and dies leaving fuel for the fungi to grow which are then eaten by animals, etc
The mushroom itself is the “fruit” of the larger fungus structure, and it tries to raise up high to help spread the fungal spores.
The mycelium “body” of the fungus is concealed nearby feeding on debris, perhaps even underneath the rock. The mycelium can be quite large and diffuse, covering a large area in thin root-like structures.
Rocks are free space that you can’t really access if you require a substantial roots system, so only a few types of things will colonise them, the rocks are likely to contain minerals that are needed which can be extracted.
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