Talk:Sarcodes

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 26 August 2021 and 25 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Studentib11, Aramblas.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 11:13, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Mycoheterotrophy in Mycorrhizal Networks
This is most definitely a question rather than an assertion. The description of Sarcodes sanguinea, suggests the nature of mycoheterotrophy in these plants is parasitic, "The snow plant takes advantage of this mutualism by tapping into the network and stealing sugars from the photosynthetic partner by way of the fungi." It seems to me that the jury is still o on this. As Merlin Sheldrake suggests in his book "Entangled Life", as with "all physical systems, energy moves “downhill,” from where there is more to where there is less." Are mycoheterotrophic plants 'stealing' from the network rather than the network 'gifting' the necessary carbon? This may appear to be a rather unnecessary clarification. However, as I am beginning to see mycorrhizal networks in a different light, I am wondering if it wouldn't be wiser to leave characterizations such as this until our understanding has expanded. Thorisbc (talk) 05:01, 25 July 2023 (UTC)