Mushrooms rely on external food sources for energy
This is our first “Mushroom” themed gallery here at WBP! Although we have written about them in the past, we are excited to dedicate a whole month to it here in July. Additionally, we are excited to feature some amazing mushroom photographs from Dan Clement, this month’s Featured Photographer.
Although to most people mushrooms resemble plants, they are actually more closely related to animals! How is that possible? Scientists estimate that fungi (aka mushrooms) split from animals ~1.5 billion years ago. Plants had split from animals ~9 million years earlier. Mushrooms are a distinct life form that like humans cannot photosynthesize. Mushrooms rely on external food sources for energy. They absorb nutrients from organic material. The fruiting body of the fungus we see, we call the mushroom. However, there is a lot happening beyond what our eyes can see. Mushrooms communicate with their environment through mycelium. Mycelium are thin threads that connect to a variety of plants in the forest. These mycelial networks not only allow for communication, but also exchanging of resources. However, this system is not entirely utopian. The mycelial network is used by some plants to steal resources from their neighboring plants. Sometimes these plants will even release harmful plant chemicals.
This photograph was taken in Acadia National Park along the coast of Maine. Ben and I are big fans of this small, but special, National Park. Check out some of our other stories from Acadia.
As the name suggests, this mushroom can be found on birch trees. They are considered very common. Their use as a medicine goes back a long way. Back in 1991, a “natural mummy” of a man was found in the Italian Alps. He was named Otzi the Iceman. Otzi lived sometime between 3350 and 3105 BC. He was found with a string of birch polypore around his neck. Scientists speculate that Otzi was using the fungi to treat his intestinal parasites over 5000 years ago. The only other species of mushroom found on Otzi was Tinder polypore. As the name suggests, this fungi is used to make fires.
Their use as a medicine goes back a long way
Did you know?
- Did you know the world’s largest organism is a mushroom! It is a honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) affectionately nicknamed Humongous Fungus. It covers roughly four-square miles within the Malheur National Forest in Oregon.
- Mushrooms breathe in oxygen and exhale CO2, unlike plants.
- Scientists have identified ~10,000 species of fungi, but believe there are a lot left to identify.
- In a promising 2011 study, students from Yale discovered a mushroom in the Amazon rainforest (Pestalotiopsis microspora) that can consume polyurethane plastic and convert it into organic matter.
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