Fungi provide us with life-saving medicine (penicillin), a food source (mushrooms, yeast for bread, mould for blue cheese), and a much needed service - rotting away billions of tonnes of plant material 🍄 Without them, the debris of life – leaf litter, wood, dung and other carbon based matter, would build up year on year. Fungi break down many millions of tons of this organic waste, and return the minerals to the ecosystem for use by other animals and plants again. Life as we know it could not exist or continue without them! #Autumn #Fungi #ProtectNature #AutumnNature #Autumnwatch