title: Nature's ground force.
abstract: Some of the world's oldest and richest commercial biotechnologies are based on fungi, for example the production of bread, wine, beer and medicines. But they have a far greater, yet largely unrecognised, influence on human existence--they are crucial to some of the processes which ensure that major ecosystems world-wide keep ticking over.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, Australia.
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Bougher
authors.forename: I C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Tommerup
mesh_terms: D017753:Ecosystem; D005658:Fungi / Q000502:physiology*