Sunday, May 1, 2016

Fungi Field Trip Adventure

By Thomas Gray

Pictures and field trip occurred on 4/18/16

The most interesting thing I found is that things we might not think are fungi are in fact fungal bodies.  For instance, Fungi are able to infect plants and signs are visible of a fungal infection.  As we were walking on the trail, I noticed that a plant had discolorations on its leaves.  These turned out to be a fungal infection and that the plant was being attacked.  I always thought for the longest time it was just sick or the leaves were dying.  Now I know that the real reason is that the fungus has infected the plant and is spreading throughout.  

One thing that I learned that I don't have a picture of is the network that fungi display in a particular environment.  They connect trees, allowing them to share resources as well as talk to one another.  This process is done through the fungal mycellia network.  It's amazing that one fungal organism can spread out across a whole forest, making them so much cooler than I first realized!  The only picture I have is a pretty picture of the treetops, which you guys can think that they are connected through a a single fungal organism.


There were also a few mushrooms we were able to see that I was able to touch and feel.  The first was the typical mushroom spore producing body.  Though it was little and cute, it was weird to imagine how they can appear in the morning and be gone by the evening.  That's one fast growing fungus! Though this isn't the specific species, it was very fun to touch and see the small spores fall out!






Finally, was the lichen that we found.  This was a mutualistic relationship between plants and fungi.  I always thought they were small plants growing on trees, but never knew that it was actually comprised of two different organisms to form one.








Here is a little puddle I found inside a tree that looked like a heart! I'm sure there were some algae and some little Archea  and bacteria inside!

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