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Question

Soil fertility would decline if fungi were removed from an ecosystem as:

The correct answer is

The breakdown of dead matter would slow, reducing mineral availability

Fungi, along with bacteria, are decomposers. They secrete enzymes that break down dead plants, animals and wastes into simpler substances, and in doing so they return minerals such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the soil.

If fungi were removed, dead matter would decompose much more slowly and would pile up, and the minerals locked in it would not be released. With fewer minerals available in the soil, its fertility would decline.

Predators feed on other animals, not on fungi, so their food supply is not the reason for soil fertility. The link between fungi and soil fertility here is through decomposition, not through fungi feeding living plants by absorption. Photosynthesis needs light, carbon dioxide, water and chlorophyll, and it does not depend on fungi.

Hence, The breakdown of dead matter would slow, reducing mineral availability.

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