Fungi might hold the key to restoring Alberta’s endangered grasslands, particularly those damaged by industrial activities like mining, forestry and extraction.
In case you’ve forgotten your high school biology, Fungi include yeasts, rusts, smuts, mildews, moulds, and mushrooms. Fungi are among the most widely distributed organisms on Earth, ranging from the high Arctic to the depths of Antarctica, and they are of significant environmental and medical importance.
Scientists like Adriana Morrell at Lethbridge Polytechnic are studying how fungi can help plants grow stronger in places where the soil has been disturbed or degraded. Her team’s project focuses on fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which naturally live in the soil and form a partnership with plants. AMF fungi help plants by providing nutrients and water that the plants can’t access on their own, making them more resilient to weather extremes. In exchange, the plants give the fungi carbohydrates to help them thrive.
Morrell’s team is working on a four-year project to restore the degraded grasslands near the Leitch Collieries coal mine in Crowsnest Pass. This area has been heavily damaged by past mining, grading, and cattle activity, and traditional restoration methods haven’t been successful. By introducing AMF and beneficial bacteria into native grasses, the team hopes to create “superplants” that can better survive these harsh conditions and restore the ecosystem.
The AMF fungi work like “soil probiotics,” similar to how we use probiotics for gut health. Just as probiotics in our stomachs help us digest food, the fungi in the soil help plants absorb essential nutrients like phosphorus and zinc. These nutrients are often hard for plants to access, especially in heavily damaged soils. The fungi also help the plants during drought by drawing water to their roots. This natural partnership could make plants stronger and more likely to thrive in degraded environments.
While fungi’s role in helping plants is ancient and natural, scientists are still learning how to use them effectively for habitat restoration. If Morrell’s project succeeds, it could be applied to other disturbed grassland areas. This could be especially important in southern Alberta, where natural grasslands are endangered and struggling to recover from human activities.
Conservationists like Alia Snively from the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) are excited about the potential of this research. Traditional restoration methods, like replanting native species, don’t always work because of drought, invasive species, or poor soil conditions.
“I think restoration is usually quite kind of time-intensive,” said Snively.
“It requires a lot of adaptive management and things like that. [So] anything that can kind of help with plant establishment is really exciting to me as a restoration manager … learning more about how we can do things better, how we can increase [restoration] success rates.”
The project is part of a growing trend worldwide of using fungi for environmental restoration. In other places, fungi have been used to help fight wildfires or break down toxic chemicals in the soil. By taking these methods out of the lab and into the real world, researchers hope to develop practical solutions for restoring damaged ecosystems. If successful, this approach could help protect Alberta’s grasslands for future generations.