why do mushrooms grow their gills and spores on the underside of the fruit body? Isn’t it better to grow it on top so that air and passing animals can carry it?

Question

Edit: Why do **some** mushrooms…

In: Biology

Answer 1

Other people answered better than I, but spores are so light, they easily float in even the slightest breeze, with gravity bringing them out of the pores / gills themselves. Also some fungi *are* this way, such as puffballs. They get stepped on or disturbed in some way and they “poof” out their spores. Earthstars, Pilobolus, and Birds nest fungi all also shoot their spores up or out instead of down.

Spores are also spread in all manner of variety. Truffles are spread generally by pigs or squirrels thst dig then up, mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic relationships with plant roots and spread their spores through the soil, bracket fungi (polypores) grow on wood and release their spores directly into the air, etc. There is also insect dispersal where some fungi form relationships with insects, such as the Cordyceps fungus, which infects insects and causes them to move to favorable locations for spore release.

Mushrooms are cool 🍄