Mushrooms “Make their own wind” to spread spores

Mushrooms “Make their own wind” to spread spores
The wind is created by evaporating moisture off the surface of the mushroom. Evaporation creates dense cold air, which flows and spreads out, and water-vapor, which is less dense than air, giving its spores some lift to eventually be carried a few inches (~4 inches) away. This is important since many fungi don’t grow tall enough to pass the very still air next to the ground called the “boundary layer”. 
There are other methods of spore dispersal to get past this boundary layer.

Here is an example of a “puffball” spore dispersal as raindrops hit and release spores into the air (pictured)
The puffball is an example of passive spore dispersal by wind. The puffball cracks open to allow the wind to carry away its spores. This is not an energy-efficient way to disperse spores. Giant puffballs produce trillions of spores because the chance of a spore landing in a habitat suitable for germination is extremely small. Passive wind dispersal is sometimes called "sweepstakes dispersal" because its chance of success is so low, just like a lottery or horse race sweepstakes.

References:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mushrooms-make-wind-to-spread-spores
http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/funfacts/Dispersal.htm
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