A WEIRD COMMON THREAD—OR SHOULD I SAY FILAMENT?—ran by means of my net browsing this week. I appear to be hanging out among the many fungi, these all-important neither-plants-nor-animals which have the facility to make the world go spherical, but in addition to convey some vegetation (assume Dutch elm illness and chestnut blight), animals (presently, it appears, bats) and even us people to their knees. Lurk alongside and be taught with me:
FIRST, A LITTLE SCIENCE LESSON: Fungi don’t have chlorophyll, so they can’t make their very own meals (like vegetation do), nor can they ingest it (like animals), besides by means of absorption from their surrounding atmosphere. Most fungi are saprophytes, that means they feed on lifeless or decaying materials, just like the leaf litter of the forest ground—or the particles in your compost heap. Their second important function: Many of the plant kingdom is dependent upon symbiotic fungi referred to as mycorrhizae, which inhabit the vegetation’ roots, to dwell. (Thanks for patiently listening to that.)
I MADE PIZZA THE OTHER DAY (no, not a mushroom pizza), one thing I do so much from scratch, and when the yeast acted oddly I did what any 21st century human does: I regarded for an evidence on-line. I nonetheless don’t know what brought about my yeast to misbehave, however right here’s what I realized: The sort of yeast you bake with (or make beer or champagne with) are unicellular fungi, technically talking. The Yeast Genome (no, I didn’t make it up) instructed me so. And when you’re nonetheless saying “yeast genome?” keep in mind that we share a majority of our DNA with chimpanzees, sure, but in addition a wholesome % with yeast, making yeast a terrific (low-cost, quick, simple) examine topic for microbiologists making an attempt to unlock mysteries of human cells.
AT LEAST MY HOMEMADE TOMATO SAUCE (if not the dough) behaved on that pizza pie, regardless of the varied fungal illnesses of this difficult tomato-growing yr within the Northeast. I’ve bemoaned the problems this season earlier than, after which a second time, and lots of large- and small-scale crops had been misplaced fully; mine carried out at about half-mast. It was a tough yr for tomatoes, however bear in mind my bumper crop of shiny orange telial horns, one part of the tenacious cedar apple rust cycle? One other fungal illness.
MY HERO: MAD(CAP) SCIENTIST TOM VOLK of Wisconsin-La Crosse, a mycologist and longtime Professor of Biology whom I do know solely from many visits to his web site, calls folks like me “myco-curious,” and his wild website is a should (if chaotic) journey, with many fungus-lined rabbit holes to discover. (He’s on a sabbatical now to write down a subject information and revamp the positioning, and I can’t watch for each.) You’ll be taught that of the 70,000 species of fungus, 250 are edible, 250 can kill you—and the remaining, properly, funky enterprise or simply plain blecch. Click on by means of his lecture slides from Intro to Fungi, or learn the wacky Fungi FAQ (which can let you know what that disgusting stuff rising in your mulch is). Or simply meet this humorous, inspiring mushroom man whose candor and gratitude about every thing from his coronary heart transplant to his apparent enjoyment of what he does hold me coming again. Just lately Volk’s homepage featured the fungus discovered on bats in caves the place heavy demise charges have been reported, which convey us to this…
BATS HAVE BEEN DISAPPEARING in terrifying numbers, in a sample first famous in 2006 close to Albany, New York, that has unfold from Vermont to Virginia. The losses are in all probability due to a fungus that is named White Nostril Syndrome, beforehand unknown to science however now named Geomyces destructans (that’s some spot-on particular epithet, the second phrase or species identify in a Latin binomial). I say in all probability as a result of the fungus could also be a aspect impact of another situation, as this very thorough article in Scientific American explains. With out bats, it reminds us, we’d face not only a booming mosquito inhabitants (amongst different pests), but when it unfold to hotter zones farmers can be with out one pollinator for avocado and plantain, and the one creature that pollinates agave (the stuff of tequila and my favourite sweetener, agave nectar). A must-read.
ORDER IN THE KINGDOM: When the subject’s fungi, I’ve a gentle spot for Tom Volk’s website, however others are extra, properly, streamlined, with a unique high quality altogether: Mykoweb by Michael Wooden (which like Volk’s has been on-line for a few years) simply underwent a redesign and is sort of the orderly world of mushrooms (with the occasional snicker nonetheless remaining, like Wooden’s chosen portrait of himself). It concentrates in, however isn’t restricted to, California species, and likewise has an inventory of beginner mycology societies and recipes and extra.
Roger Phillips, co-author (with Martyn Rix) of a beloved collection of photographically wealthy, large-format plant guides, has an internet three-page visible key to the principal genera of mushrooms at RogersMushrooms.com; every particular person genus within the composite pictures might be clicked after which leads you to species-by-species images.
And I might go on—and can, looking for mushrooms, and different useful and not-so-helpful fungi, and telling them hi there, and typically thanks. Simply don’t ask me their names–but. The images listed here are simply the mushrooms that be part of me right here every fall within the backyard, nameless for now however in all probability not lengthy. You know the way curious I might be.
