Most important, of course, are the trillions of fungal mycelia. The sweet smell of rotting wood is the smell of fungus. It is over, around, in and through everything. It softens the wood and makes the log available to salamanders and red-backed voles. The voles -- a mouse with short ears and tail – are specialists in this kind of forest. They eat 95% fungus, at the same time spreading the spores (seeds) of the fungus everywhere. This system is tightly organized chaos, and everyone has a critical role.