
Nutrients that reach the soil are leeched out by the rain
but fungi are connected to tree roots by their underground filaments
and by quickly consuming the dead
they help to recycle crucial minerals straight back into the trees.
And this recycling happens faster here than anywhere else on the planet.
There are thought to be nearly a million different types of fungi in the tropics.
The vast majority still unknown to science,
but one thing's for certain.
Without fungi,
rainforests could not exist.
Nothing goes to waste in the rainforest.
The fungi become food for others like these beetle larvae.
Finding the fungus isn't a problem for the grubs
since their caring parents actually show them the way.