Nutrient Availability Regulates an Exploration-Elaboration Trade-off in Fungal Rhizomorph Networks
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Rhizomorphs are specialised, root-like fungal structures whose hierarchical organisation may offer a route to reinforcing mycelium-based materials, yet the environmental regulation of their network formation remains poorly understood. Here, we develop an image-based framework to characterise the longitudinal growth and organisation of Armillaria gallica rhizomorphs under varying nutrient availability and light exposure. Time-lapse imaging was combined with image segmentation, skeleton-based network analysis, optical measurements and Gompertz growth modelling. Nutrient availability produced a distinctly non-monotonic response. Moderate nutrient limitation (0.5 × standard concentration) favoured rapid and coherent exploratory growth, whereas intermediate enrichment (1.5 × ) produced the greatest eventual network extent, reaching approximately 975 mm total strand length; network extent and radial expansion differed significantly across nutrient levels ( p adj = 0.0012). Further enrichment maintained substantial fungal coverage without additional network elaboration, consistent with a shift from long-range exploration towards more locally consolidating growth. By contrast, exclusion of ambient light produced no significant differences after multiple-testing correction. These results reveal a resource-dependent trade-off between exploration and network elaboration, demonstrate that fungal coverage and organised network formation are distinct outcomes, and provide a quantitative basis for controlling self-organised biological architectures for bio-derived material design.
Authors: Sarah C. Naeher, Markus J. Buehler
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204070900