Plants in symbiosis provide fungi. How to grow a good harvest of legumes. What is symbiosis in nature

The phenomenon of symbiosis occurs in many groups of plants and animals. A remarkable example is provided by leguminous plants and their associated nitrogen-fixing bacteria. These bacteria live in special nodules that develop on the roots of legumes under the influence of the bacteria themselves; they get it from the plant nutrients, while they themselves bind atmospheric nitrogen, turning it into such chemical compounds, which can be used by symbiont plants. Bacteria live in symbiosis with many other organisms. Thus, in horses, cattle, sheep and other ruminants consuming fiber-rich feed, gastrointestinal tract bacteria live that partially digest this roughage. In return, the bacteria receive all the necessary nutrition from the host.

Fungi are actively involved in the exchange of information between trees, plants and other living organisms. What role does it play in the evolution of our consciousness? From this moment on, the range of possibilities expands to infinity. But, unlike genetic barriers, they can be overcome - conversions are always possible in both directions - or exceeded through dialogue and exchange. This human potential literally exploded before our eyes with an invasion modern means communications. The Internet has changed the face of the world. A new adventure begins for humanity in which everyone can expect the best, even if no one ignores the least good in the excesses of all kinds that generate emergent and invasive technology.

Another example of symbiosis is lichens. They represent a very close union of a fungus and unicellular green (rarely blue-green) algae. The fungus provides the algae with attachment and protection, as well as a supply of water and inorganic salts. The algae provides the fungus with photosynthetic products. Under favorable circumstances, both the fungus and algae that make up the lichen can live separately, but only when in symbiosis are they able to grow in such harsh conditions in which many plants do not survive. It is no coincidence that lichens often live on bare rocks, being the only settlers in such places.

Will the global village dear to McLuhan give meaning to Teilhard de Chardin's beautiful intuition that saw human monads communicating and converging on the "Omega Point" symbolizing a united and reconciled humanity? To enrich oneself spiritually through meetings, to love to share materially and morally, to place another at the heart of one’s life: this is a field of possibilities that opens up to a person who appears in consciousness. And precisely with regard to the emergence of consciousness, mushrooms and other plants play with psychoactive virtues important role in the evolution of the human epic.

Single-celled green, yellow-green and brown algae often act as symbionts of animals. At the same time, the algae supplies the animal with the products of photosynthesis, receiving, in turn, both shelter and a number of substances necessary for life. Green algae are symbionts of freshwater protozoa, hydra and some freshwater sponges. Brown algae often found as symbionts of marine protozoa (some species of foraminifera and radiolarians). Similar algae live in symbiosis with corals, sea anemones and certain types flatworms.

Perhaps even overestimated in some analyses, it is too much ignored or denied in many cases. Wade Davis, Canadian ethnobotanist and author of many wonderful works on different cultures of people, puts into perspective in his books the connections between the knowledge of nature, plants and especially mushrooms in shamans and our most advanced scientific knowledge. Communication of shamans through “direct observation” with environment gives them knowledge of the therapeutic or nutritional benefits of plants that require discovery and confirmation through lengthy and delicate laboratory experiments.

Various protozoa are symbionts of wood-eating animals; these are typical inhabitants of the intestines, for example, of termites and forest cockroaches, where they perform the same work as fiber-processing bacteria - ruminant symbionts. The union of termites and the protozoa living in their intestines is strictly obligate, i.e. these organisms cannot exist without each other.

This is where a dialogue between these two completely complementary approaches to knowledge comes into play. Another reference to this topic seems to me to be Terence McKenna's book Food of the Gods. Rethinking the role of hallucinogenic plants and fungi in promoting human development from the lower levels of primitive organization can help us lay the foundation for a new appreciation of the unique convergence of responsible and necessary factors. for the evolution of people. In short, Terence McKenna sees the use of fungi as a catalyst that will allow our species to evolve fast enough to avoid self-destruction.

Famous example symbiosis - cohabitation of a hermit crab and an anemone. The sea anemone settles on the shell in which the hermit crab lives, and with its tentacles equipped with stinging cells, it creates additional protection for it, and it, in turn, drags the sea anemone from place to place, thereby increasing its hunting territory; In addition, sea anemones can also consume food leftovers from a hermit crab meal.

Analysis is discussed, but it would be a pity to neglect it, like all other analyzes that allowed the heart to guide a strong analytical mind. To weave bonds, new gatherings, to expand our sense of separation by multiplying the bonds being released.

In its paroxysmal manifestations, shamanism is not just a religion, but a dynamic connection with the living totality of the planet. Assuming that hallucinogens act in the natural environment as molecular messengers or exopherons, we can conclude that the connection between primates and plants is the transfer of information from one species to another. The domestication of animals by hominids was beneficial for fungi because it expanded their ecological niche. In the absence of hallucinogenic plants, cultural development of society, when it occurs, proceeds very slowly.

In 1877, Albert Bernhard Frank used the term "symbiosis", which had previously been used to refer to people living together in a community, to describe the mutual relationships in lichens. The definition has varied among scientists to the effect that it should apply only to persistent reciprocity, while other scientists have believed that the definition should apply to any type of persistent biological interaction.

On the other hand, we have found that in the presence of hallucinogens, a given culture gains access to information, sensory resources and constantly changing patterns of behavior that constantly push it to more high levels self-analysis. Shamans represent the vanguard of this procession of this creative progression.

What was the impact of these methods of intrusion into the natural order of hominids speaking, thinking and yet being imposed? Prolonged and repeated exposure to psychedelic experience and the destruction of the Other Absolute into ordinary reality, through the ritual of hallucinatory ecstasy, constantly destroyed the part of the human psyche that is now called the ego. Whatever the place at the time of its appearance, the ego acted as a continuous tumor or obstacle in the flow of psychic energy. The use of psychedelic plants in the context of shamanic initiation has caused and continues to cause dissolution complex structure ego into an undifferentiated set of feelings that Eastern philosophy calls Tao.

After 130 years of debate modern textbooks in biology and ecology use a broader definition, in which symbiosis means all types of interactions.

Some scientists argue that symbiosis is the main driving force evolution. They believe that Darwin's concept of evolution driven by competition is incomplete. And they also claim that evolution is based on cooperation, interaction and mutual dependence between organisms.

The dissolution of the single individuality in the Tao is the ultimate goal of much Eastern thought; this dissolution has traditionally been recognized as key to health and psychological balance, both collective and individual. To measure the magnitude of the dilemma modern man, we must be able to evaluate for us as humans the meaning of the loss of Tao: the collective severance of our connection with the Earth. We Westerners have inherited a completely different understanding of the world. The disconnection of Tao significantly distinguished the psychological development of Western civilization from psychological development eastern civilization.

What is symbiosis

may be mandatory, that is, one or both symbionts are completely dependent on each other or facultative (optional), when the organisms can live independently.

Symbiosis is also classified by physical affection; a symbiosis where organisms have a bodily union is called conjunctive symbiosis, and a symbiosis where they are not in union is called disjunctive symbiosis. When one organism lives on another, it is called ectosymbiosis, and if one of the partners lives inside the tissues of the other, it is endosymbiosis.

In the West, civilization has continually focused on the ego and the God of the ego: the monotheistic ideal. Monotheism is a clear example projections onto the divine ideal of an essentially pathological personality: a male ego personality, paranoid, possessive and obsessed with power. Not the kind of people we would want to invite home. It is also interesting to note that the god as conceived by the West has the unique characteristic of not having a relationship with a woman in all of his theological mythology. In ancient Babylon, Anu was paired with her friend Inanna; Greek religion assigned Zeus a wife and girls, as well as many female conquests.

Obligatory and facultative symbioses

The relationship can be obligatory when one or both symbionts are completely dependent on each other. For example, in lichens, which consist of fungal and photosynthetic symbionts, the fungal partners cannot live independently. Algal sprouts or cyan bacteria in lichens such as Trentepohlia can usually live independently of each other, and therefore their symbiosis is facultative (not obligatory).

These divine couples were fine; only the god of the West has neither mother, nor sister, nor companion, nor daughter. Hinduism and Buddhism have preserved the memory of these traditional ecstatic methods by using the "herbs of light", as evidenced by the yogic sutras of Patanjali. Moreover, the rituals of these great religions give great importance expression and valorization of the feminine. Unfortunately, the Western tradition has suffered for so long from a socio-symbiotic break with the feminine and secrecy organic life, but still available for shamanic use of hallucinogenic plants.

Physical interaction

Endosymbiosis is any symbiotic relationship in which one symbiont lives in the tissues of another either inside cells or outside cells. Examples include:

  • nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live in root nodes on legume roots;
  • actinomycetes, nitrogen-fixing bacteria called Frankia, live in alder root nodes;
  • single-chain algae that live inside reef-building corals;
  • bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to approximately 10–15% of insects.

Mutualism or interspecies reciprocal altruism is relationship between different types . In general, only lifelong interactions involving close physical and biochemical contact can be considered symbiotic. Mutualism can be either obligatory for both species, obligatory for one, facultative for the other, or facultative for both.

Modern Western religion consists of a series of social models, each based on a particular anxiety, oriented towards a very specific moral structure and a very specific concept of duty. Modern religious experience is rarely an act of distancing from the ego.

The generalized triumph of Western values ​​condemned human species to wander around in a state of prolonged neurosis generated by his disconnection from the unconscious. Accessing the unconscious through plant hallucinogens restores our original connection to the living planet. This distance from nature and the unconscious took root about two thousand years ago, when humanity passed from the age of God's Great Pan to the level of Pisces with the suppression of pagan mysteries and the emergence of Christianity. The result was a psychological shift that plunged Europeans into wonder at two millennia of manic religion, persecution, war, materialism and rationalism.

A large percentage of herbivores have a mutation intestinal flora, which helps them digest plant matter. This intestinal flora is protozoa or bacteria. Coral reefs are the result of mutualism between coral organisms and the various algae that live within them. Most land plants and terrestrial ecosystems are based on reciprocity between plants, which absorb carbon from the air, and mycorrhizal fungi, which help in extracting water and minerals from the soil.

The tendency of the psyche to create an autonomous whole is to a certain extent instinctive, but it can nevertheless become pathological if it prevents any dissolution of boundaries and any rediscovery of the foundations of being. Monotheism was the bearer of a master model, an Apollonian model of the self, solar and global in its masculine expression. In this pathological configuration, by its uniqueness, the value and power of emotions and the natural world are devalued and replaced by a narcissistic fascination with the abstract and metaphysical.

This psychological position turned out to be mutual: it gave science its explanatory power, but also its potential for moral degeneration. While the plant feeds the fungi with carbon compounds, which it produces through photosynthesis and photosynthesis. Definition: Absent in the mushroom, this in turn contributes to the supply of water and mineral elements plants.

An example of mutual symbiosis is the relationship between clown fish and sea anemones. The clown fish ventilates the water, in turn, the stinging tentacles of the anemone protect the clown from predators. Special mucus on the clown protects it from stinging tentacles.

Fascinating examples of obligate interchange exist between tube worms and symbiotic bacteria that live in hydrothermal vents. The worm has no digestive tract and is entirely dependent on its internal symbionts for nutrition. The bacteria oxidize either hydrogen sulfide or methane, which the worm brings to them.

Arbuscular endomycorrhizae are the most common in annual plants. These fungi have microscopic hyphae with a diameter one hundred times thinner than those of the root, and they penetrate into the root from one side and develop thin thread a few centimeters from the other to the root. outside. As a result, the hyphae multiply the volume of soil that is explored to draw water and the least mobile nutrients such as phosphorus.

They can produce organic acids to use phosphorus that the plant would not have. can take it alone. There are other mutually beneficial effects, such as protection from certain aggressors and improved water retention around roots through the secretion of swelling proteins, glomalins. associations. Mycorrhization depends on the presence of the fungus in the soil, and inoculation with selected strains can accelerate it under certain conditions.

There are also many species of tropical and subtropical ants that have evolved very difficult relationships With certain types trees.

Commensalism

Commensalism describes the relationship between two living organisms in which one has an advantage and the other does not provide significant harm or assistance. This term comes from English word commensal, which is used for human social interaction.

In the case of soybean and other newly introduced crops, it is recommended to inoculate a strain adapted to the species and cultivar either on the seed or at the time of sowing. Mushrooms form large group organisms formed by more than 000 species, most of which are microscopic. Those that sprout in the forests from June to November represent only a small part - about a thousand species are sorted - and this is just one stage of the entire development cycle.

From this arise, when the temperature and humidity are favorable, fruiting bodies, commonly called mushrooms, emerge from the ground. They are usually formed by a stem and a cap various shapes, where the spores that will be used for reproduction are found.

Amensalism is a type of relationship that exists where one species oppresses or completely destroys another. An example is growing a seedling under the shade of a mature tree. A mature tree can deprive a fathom of necessary sunlight, and if the mature tree is very large, it can absorb rainwater and deplete the soil's nutrients.

Man has learned to distinguish good views, which could be used for feeding, from poisonous ones, causing Various types disorders and severity, as well as death to the suffering of consumers. All fungi are heterotrophic, i.e. they cannot build themselves the organic molecules necessary for life because they do not have chlorophyll. Therefore, they depend on other organs to provide them.

Many mushroom mushrooms are cute, mycorrhizal, that they wrap around the roots higher plants without damaging them to remove necessary substances in exchange for water and nitrogenous substances. Also typical of the species are the size, color and location of the pores that form the spongy tissue under the cap, the shape of the stem, and the texture of the flesh.

Synnecrosis is rare type symbiosis, in which the interaction between species harmful to both organisms involved. This is a short-lived condition as the interaction eventually leads to death. This term is rarely used.

Coevolution

Symbiosis is increasingly recognized as an important selective force in evolution, with many species having a long history of interdependent coevolution. According to the endosymbiotic theory, evolution is the result of symbiosis between various types bacteria. This theory is supported by some organelles dividing independently of the cell and the observation that some organelles appear to have their own genome.

Symbiosis has played an important role in the coevolution of flowering plants and the animals that pollinate them. Many plants pollinated by insects, bats or birds have highly specialized flowers modified to promote pollination by a specific pollinator, which is also suitably adapted.

First flowering plants in the fossil record had relatively simple flowers. Adaptive speciation quickly gave rise to many diverse groups of plants, and at the same time corresponding speciation occurred in some groups of insects. Some plant groups evolved nectar and large sticky pollen, while insects evolved more specialized morphologies to access and collect these rich food sources. In some plant and insect taxa the relationship has become dependent, where plant species can only be pollinated by one insect species.