As climate change causes more trees to die and forest canopies to open up, mushrooms on the forest floor are exposed to more intense sun and heat. Researchers exposed Shiitake mushrooms to artificial sunlight and found that the mushrooms activate protective molecular mechanisms, particularly heat-shock proteins, to cope with the stress. This suggests that mushrooms have built-in defenses against harsh sun exposure, though scientists are not yet sure if these defenses are strong enough to protect mushroom reproduction under real-world climate change conditions.