Hey guys!I'm glad we had an opportunity to go out and learn about fungi outside of the lab. It wouldn't have been possible without Gwen for arranging the trip and Korena to guide us through the park to show us some interesting organisms. We saw many fungi varying from mutualistic to parasitic. I felt bad for the sick trees and plants we seen but I know they have various ways of attempting to combat disease. Not only fungus can affect trees but also plants which Korena mentioned as blight. Before this field trip I have always thought that damaged leaves were from insects and not a fungi. Another thing I took away from this field trip is to NEVER eat mushroom without having an expert identifying them. Mushrooms can look similar as they are growing and if you eat the wrong one... you could die! Some are not as fortunate as this guy who survived from eating destroying angel mushrooms. This article came from Cornell Mushroom Blog which has lots of interesting and informational posts. After this trip, I learned that fungi has a big role in our ecosystem. Without decomposers, we would just have a large amount of dead organisms piling up in forests. It would be similar to if we didn't have scavengers we would see many fleshy, gross, dead species that we don't really want to see. I enjoyed this experience and this has inspired me to go out to parks and be more observant of what's there. Hopefully by the end of this class I will know how to identify plant and fungi species so I can nerd out on my friends and family.
Below is a short video highlighting my experience:
Fungi Fun Facts:
- The most toxic mushrooms are from the Amanita group which contain amatoxins that cause liver failure and even death.
- The largest living organism at this time is a giant honey mushroom in Malheur National Forest in Oregon.
- A mycelium network can span across acres of land and are able to communicate from one side of the network to the other.
Hi Stacie!
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to watch the video you took of the field trip, and the Fungi Fun Facts that you collected were very interesting, especially the one about the Oregon Giant Honey Mushroom.
Altogher, your post was very organized and fun to read; great post indeed!
Thank you Emma!
DeleteHi Stacie,
ReplyDeleteI really like your use of video in this blog post, as reading a lot of stuff can sometimes be a bit boring, but your video really summed up the main points and all the things we saw in that park in a more refreshing way, so I really enjoyed your post! Your Fungi Fun Facts was also a part of your post I enjoyed, since I was quite surprised as well to find that the largest living organism is actually a fungi, since I would always think about large organisms relative to their mass or size, so that was interesting. Overall, awesome post, and I really enjoyed and appreciated all the work your put into it!
Thank you Patrick!
DeleteI was really surprised to find out the largest living organism is a mushroom as well. I didn't have an understand of how mushroom grow until taking this class.
ReplyDelete