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SYCS: Symposium Data Analysis in Complex Systems
SYCS 1: Data Analysis in Complex Systems: From Data to Models
SYCS 1.2: Invited Talk
Friday, March 27, 2009, 11:00–11:30, BAR SCHÖ
Transport efficiency and resilience in mycelial networks — •Mark Fricker1, Daniel Bebber1, and Lynne Boddy2 — 1Dept. Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RB, UK — 2Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK
Many fungi grow as a foraging mycelium, formed by branching and fusion of threadlike hyphae, that gives rise to a complex adaptive network without centralised control. These networks display both a high transport capacity and high resilience to damage with low relative cost. These properties are enhanced as the network grows, while the relative amount of construction material used decreases. Thus, mycelia achieve the seemingly competing goals of efficient transport and resilience, with decreasing relative investment, by selective reinforcement and recycling of transport pathways.
To test the transport predictions, we have imaged movement of radiolabelled nutrients. These show rapid flux with marked oscillations organised into discrete phase domains, preferential resource allocation and abrupt switching between different pre-existing transport routes. Furthermore, fusion between compatible individuals leads to rapid nutrient re-distribution and formation of a fully synchronised super-colony. This complex behaviour makes correlation between theoretical and experimental measures more challenging, and we are just beginning to develop a suitable modelling framework to understand these self-organised systems better.