Forest Fungi
Two organisms I learned about:
Although we had already gone over lichens and their strange composite lifestyles, I didn't know that they grew so slowly. The fact that the long strings of lichen that one sees on trees in old-growth forests have been growing undisturbed for decades or more is incredible. On the topic of slow-growing fungis, the shell fungi we saw that also grows only one shell layer a year that had grown a few inches already was also impressive.
The longevity of some fungi definitely surprised me. I had a tendency to think of fungi as only short-lived mushrooms or bread mold, but I would never have expected some of them to have been around when my parents were my age.
2 year old lichen
I was surprised that there were some types of mycorrhizal fungi that were actually visible to the naked eye. Although apparently most aren't as robust as those are, I didn't realize that the networks could be so extensive. And it wasn't something that I had a chance to observe on the trip itself but I will have to look to see if I can look for the ferns gametophyte next time I'm in a park.
How do the microbiomes at the base of trees and at the tops of trees differ in metagenomics.
If the microbiomes do differ, are the biomes gradiated or are there no transition zones between the two? Do the leaves, trunk, and branches have completely different mutualistic organisms, or is there an overlap between them?
It was said that if something traumatic happened to fungi at one end of a fungal network, fungi at the other end react, even if those two ends are a forest apart. What exactly are those reactions, and how fast do those signals propagate?
To test the species diversity of the areas of a specific tree, a metagenomic analysis of different areas of the trees could determine the diversity, and samples from each section could be grown under the same conditions, to test the specific species in each.
Although we had already gone over lichens and their strange composite lifestyles, I didn't know that they grew so slowly. The fact that the long strings of lichen that one sees on trees in old-growth forests have been growing undisturbed for decades or more is incredible. On the topic of slow-growing fungis, the shell fungi we saw that also grows only one shell layer a year that had grown a few inches already was also impressive.
The longevity of some fungi definitely surprised me. I had a tendency to think of fungi as only short-lived mushrooms or bread mold, but I would never have expected some of them to have been around when my parents were my age.
2 year old lichen
I was surprised that there were some types of mycorrhizal fungi that were actually visible to the naked eye. Although apparently most aren't as robust as those are, I didn't realize that the networks could be so extensive. And it wasn't something that I had a chance to observe on the trip itself but I will have to look to see if I can look for the ferns gametophyte next time I'm in a park.
How do the microbiomes at the base of trees and at the tops of trees differ in metagenomics.
If the microbiomes do differ, are the biomes gradiated or are there no transition zones between the two? Do the leaves, trunk, and branches have completely different mutualistic organisms, or is there an overlap between them?
It was said that if something traumatic happened to fungi at one end of a fungal network, fungi at the other end react, even if those two ends are a forest apart. What exactly are those reactions, and how fast do those signals propagate?
To test the species diversity of the areas of a specific tree, a metagenomic analysis of different areas of the trees could determine the diversity, and samples from each section could be grown under the same conditions, to test the specific species in each.
Great lichen photo. Pretty amazing to think of how old some of the lichens are that you see in the forest!
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