Shoestring rot

The giant fungus I mentioned in class is an individual Armillaria bulbosa, or honey mushroom. I've posted about this study before so check that out for further details on the 'pulsating mass of fungus'.

A subsequent study in Oregon revealed an even larger individual of another species in the same genus, Armillaria ostoyae or 'Shoestring rot' . This fungus attacks the sapwood of a variety of tree species and is able to travel great distances under the bark or between trees in the form of black rhizomes.

A question in class about why individuals are able to get so big is possibly answered by this comment by the author of the study I found on a BBC news report:

The huge size of this fungus may be related to the dry climate in eastern Oregon, Dr Dreisbach said. Spores have a hard time establishing new organisms, making room for the old-timers to spread.

This is the original paper, Coarse-scale population structure of pathogenic Armillaria species in a mixed-conifer forest in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon,

..and now for something completely different.

After years of neglect it appears that microbial art is making something of a come back. Because we'll be talking about Fungi tomorrow here's a Fungus made out of bacteria by Niall Hamilton . Hmm, that's just wrong.

For all your microbial art needs there is the MicrobialArt website. You can see more from Niall Hamilton, and many more.
From an interview at MycoRant:

Hamilton uses both fungi and bacteria in his creations, and each no doubt has its own advantages and disadvantages. “I have to say I’m rather envious of other artists’ work with bioluminescent bacteria or slime molds,” he offers, adding, “both of which I think are very visually impressive. But, I haven’t had the opportunity to work with them (simply because I haven’t isolated them). Bacteria I like for the fast growth and clean edges, but they generally are a lot more limited in range of color and texture than the fungi.”

Biomechanics of Fungi

Here's an interesting paper from PNAS at the end of last year: Explosively launched spores of ascomycete fungi have drag-minimizing shapes.

The drag experienced by these fungal spores is within one percent of the absolute minimum possible drag for their size. But these shapes are seen only among spores distributed by air flow, not those which are dispersed by animals.

An optimal drag-minimizing shape ensures that the spores can traverse several millimeters of still air surrounding the fungus' fruiting body; once past that point, the 10-micron spores are light enough to be propelled by even the gentlest breeze.

Also at the end of last year, in PLoS ONE, The Fastest Flights in Nature: High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms among Fungi. Using ultra-high-speed video cameras the launch process in four species of fungi that grow on the dung of herbivores was documented. One of these species was the Pilobolus I mentioned in class. Launch speeds ranged from 2 to 25 m s⁻¹ and corresponding accelerations of 20,000 to 180,000 g propelled spores over distances of up to 2.5 meters.

Don't forget the Lotusland trip tomorrow. 1pm sharp by the Old Little Theater. Weather forecast for Saturday is currently cloudy with a 10% chance of precipitation although the afternoon looks like it should stay dry.

Pulsating mass of fungus

I think this post is worthy of repetition - particularly since I couldn't remember why the Department of Defense was funding the study.

The 'Humongous Fungus' project was actually an offshoot of a grant from the Department of Defense, which funded a project to study the possible biological effects of ELF (Extra Low Frequency) stations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These ELF stations were built to communicate underground with ocean-going submarines in time of war.

They sampled for the fungus by 'baiting' with tongue depressors. The fungal mycelium quickly colonized the wood sticks. They were not looking for a large fungus, or even trying to measure the size of any fungus. The project was originally to look at how mitochondrial DNA was inherited in fungi in nature.

When news of the 'giant fungus' broke in the press CNN wanted someone to go out into the woods and wave from the fungus so they could get an aerial picture of the humongous fungus.

Even better, a Japanese businessman called and wanted to build a boardwalk around the humongous fungus and charge people to view the 'pulsating mass of fungus'.

There's a really nice article by Tom Volk, first published in Inoculum in 2002, a decade after the discovery of the fungus. You can read the article online here.

If you'd like to read more about Beatrix Potter, and the 'unnatural union between a captive algal damsel and a tyrant fungal master.' check out this earlier post.