From the Ancient Greek βίο- (bío-) meaning ‘life’ and the Latin remediare ‘heal, cure’, bioremediation simply refers to any procedure employing the functions of biological organisms to remove pollution. Mycoremediation is the form of bioremediation that enlists specifically, fungi. Fungi have been on land for over one billion years, mining nutrients from the rock-encrusted shell of pre-historic earth. When fungi formed symbiotic relationships with plants roughly 500 million years ago, they branched out into soils, advancing the occupation of life on land. Fungi have been company to all five mass extinction events, earning them a reputation for resilience and adaptability. The position of fungi as master engineers, unflinching prospectors and stoical adaptors, is what justifies their attraction to the efforts of bioremediation.

Fungi, in more ways than one, can be thought of as nature’s clean-up crew. Some species may be fussy when it comes to a particular mass of unidentified sludge or the occasional pool of radiating water, but somewhere in the ranks of fungi, there will always be a willing participant to get the clean-up job done. It goes without saying that fungi don’t tend to think of themselves as cleaners, no, they much prefer to think of themselves as artful scavengers. While fungi are ‘hard at work’ cleaning up what we consider to be hazardous or toxic waste, they are, in fact, in the middle of a feeding frenzy. Fungi take in sustenance by releasing their metabolic enzymes (the equivalent to the contents of your stomach approximately ten minutes before lunch) externally and absorbing the digested nutrients. Nature has provided fungi with enviable terms of employment. They are required to assist in the conversion of decaying organic matter (dead trees, fallen leaves, wilting plants etc), ensuring the reuse of stored resources. Additionally, they are expected to keep an eye on environments, making sure certain compounds don’t build up in excess and dismantle a well-balanced ecosystem. They are also tasked with passing along nutrients from the soil to plants with which they have partnered, provided they don’t themselves require the nutrients. For all these jobs and many, many more, all fungi actually have to do is eat.

Fungi are equipped with some of the most powerful tool collections of any natural kingdom, imagine picking up a one-pound screwdriver and being able to use it to loosen the bolt on a twenty-year-old rusting tire. In mycoremediation we aren’t dealing with screwdrivers and rust-locked bolts, we are dealing with the complex physiology of fungi and the pollution produced by modern cultural, industrial, and agricultural practices.

The following section refers exclusively to the mycoremediation of heavy metals from soil, water bodies and any similar contaminated site. Heavy metals are used in almost every modern industrial practice, and industries, as we know, have a poor record for cleaning up after themselves, if they were in nursery, they would be on a permanent time out. Certain heavy metals, those whose medical achievements have earned them unpopular notoriety, have been slowly disappearing from labels, shelves and anything reachable by children. This departure from everyday use has been followed by receding levels of detection in the environments of countries where public and political intervention has been successful. Despite the relative success of political interventions, heavy metals, even the most high-risk ones, are still in active circulation through construction materials, manufacturing equipment, industrial chemicals and more. Where there is use, there is improper disposal and where there is improper disposal, there is a fungus waiting in the wings to be of service.