Fungi

Meet scientist Lynn Boddy, featured in our fungi podcast. 

Where do you work?

School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK.

What do you study?

I am a decomposition ecologist concentrating mainly on wood decay fungi, especially community development, their interactions with other fungi, bacteria and invertebrates, and the behaviour of mycelial networks.

What are three titles you would give yourself?

Ecologist, communicator, optimist.

What do you like to do when you are not working?

I am keen on, though not very good at, karate, cycling, yoga and keeping fit. Then, when I am worn out I like to read thrillers, who dunnits, sci-fi and historical novels.

What do you like most about science?

I love the excitement of finding out something new about what fungi do in the natural environment. It is great having a job that is such great fun, and utterly fascinating.

Educational materials are provided by our partner, National Geographic Education.

Questions

1. What part of a fungus is the mushroom?

A mushroom is the fruit body of a fungus.

2. What is the relationship between fungi and plants?

Myccorhizal fungi attach to the roots of plants and help absorb water and nutrients and share them with the plants and in exchange, the fungi get some of the sugars stored within the plant roots. Fungi also help digest and decompose plant matter.

3. Why might an ecologist like Lynn Body spend her time studying fungi?

Ecologists or other scientists who study fungi, called mycologists, study fungi because it is important to understand the role that fungi play in forests and other ecosystems.

Strategies for Using EOL Podcasts in a Variety of Learning Environments

• Play the first fifteen seconds of the podcast and then pause it. Invite students to try and answer the riddle before playing the rest.

• Have students write down terms they are unfamiliar with while listening to the podcast. Then define them as a group, afterwards.

• Have students close their eyes and visualize what is being discussed in the podcast. Then have them produce a sketch based on their interpretations.

• Have students preview several of the podcasts found on the Encyclopedia of Life site and choose the one they find most interesting. 

• Have students research the species or species group and present to their peers.

• Pose an open-ended question before students listen to the podcast, and have them discuss their ideas before and after in small groups.

• Have students determine what they think the key message of this podcast is. Was the host effective in getting his or her message across?

Vocabulary

Audio

Listen to Lynne Boddy describe how bacteria take advantage of fungi in the complicated ecosystem down among the roots of trees—what biologists call the rhizosphere.

Images

Images courtesy of Ari Daniel Shapiro

Facts

Amanita brunnescens is known as the “brown blusher” after the brown stain left by its bruised flesh.

Foresters are enlisting one fungus in biowarfare to save stands of commercial fir trees in British Columbia.  Early results studies show that H. fasciculare can successfully displace the pathogen, Armillaria solidipes, in managed forests.

Underground fungal networks can grow to be enormous. In fact, one specimen of Dark Honey Fungus discovered in Oregon’s Blue Mountains in 1998 may hold the record for the largest organism on the planet! This giant Armillaria ostoyae is as big as 1,665 football fields.

Fungi aren’t always decomposers; sometimes they even play the role of predator. The mycorhizzial fungus Laccaria bicolor appears to lure small insect-like creatures called springtails to their doom, providing its host tree with some nitrogen fertilizer.

Participate

Mycologists—fungus ecologists like Lynne Boddy—use spore prints to help identify fungi. To make a spore print, mycologists leave the mature cap of a fungus on a piece of paper; after a few hours, the spores have left a kind of fungal fingerprint behind. Then the tell-tale color of the spores can be used to confirm the identity of the fungus.

You can make your own; spore prints are simple to make using white or black paper, glass, or even a flat-bed scanner. You can see a spore print of H. fasciculare here, and learn how to make prints of your own from Michael Kuo at mushroomexpert.com. Share your spore prints with us by uploading them to the EOL Group Image Group on Flickr.