Fungi Field Trip by Karissa Crawford

Two weeks ago on April 18th our class went on a field trip to Pine Ridge Park that covers 24-acres of urban forest and is home to a diverse collection of fungi. Korena, a fungi expert and enthusiast, gave us a tour through the trails of the park. I took pictures and notes on what I thought was the most interesting fungi or what was the most relevant to our course material. I have added links (just to wikipedia) for other general information and pictures of the diffident organisms Korena named!

Basidiomycota

Club Fungi

the Mario mushroom!

this guy had a little slug activity ):

These little guys are definitely my favorite fungi which belong to the phyla Basidiomycota. Korena believed the mushroom in these photographs to be from the genus amanita and species gemmata or pantherina. She concluded that she would have to examine the spores in order to determine the exact origin of these fungi. Researchers distinguish between several different morphological features to help determine identify the basidiomycete in question including "crowdedness" of the lamella or gill of the mushroom, wether the ring can move up and down and where the ring in placed on the stem and their spores. 

Bracket Fungi

Fungi seen in upper right corner of photo on dead bark

Zoomed in photograph of previous picture showing
pores with spore bearing tubes

Bracket fungi are also commonly known as shelf fungi and form fruiting bodies called conks. Unlike most club fungi seen above that are generally soft and delicate, bracket fungi grow out of dead bark forming a tough material. They are pathogenic or decomposers that do not have true gills but contain pores with tubes that hold spores seen in the photograph above.

Ascomycota 

Lichen

Left circle: fruticose lichen Right square: foliose lichen

crustose lichen

Like most people who have not taken a plant biology class or any similar course, I had no idea what lichen was. I just assumed it was a species of moss, however lichen are actually a mutualistic fungi from one of the most diverse phylum Ascomycota. Lichens are composite organisms meaning they  can only form when algae and cyanobacteria are present. The have several forms, three of which are displayed in the photographs above. The lichen circled in red is an example of fruticose which is composed of tiny, leafless branches. The lichen in the red square is an example if foliose containing flat leaf-like structures. The powder-like lichen in the photograph on the right is an example if crustose which are the flat light green flakes living on a Dug Fur and can grow about 1cm^2 a year.