Photo by Steve Axford

Fungi are…• Often overlooked • Their own Kingdom

– No, they are not plants– Not animals either

• Primary decomposers of cellulose in ecosystems

• Heroes of symbioses• Why don’t we know more

about fungi?– Hidden from view more than

92% of the time• Include mushrooms molds

yeast and mildews

Mushrooms are…• Fungi. All mushrooms are fungi but not all fungi

are mushrooms.– Common example of non-mushroom fungi?

• Reproductive structures of fungi (apples to a tree)

Largest organism in the world is a fungus

Armilaria solidipes, 3.7miles2

and more than 2K yrs old

Vast majority of fungal body is hidden below ground

How are fungi related to life on Earth?

State of the world Fungi Report, 2018

• Members of the crown group in phylogenetics

• A remarkable fossil is the late-Silurian (443–416 Mya) Prototaxites, which grew up to 8 m tall. It was originally assumed to have been a tree, but more recent analysis indicates that it was a fungus

Fungal roles in ecosystems• Plant decomposers – Essential in your garden!!!

– Without them we would be buried in plant material• Plant symbionts – Your plants won't live without

them!– May establish relationships with all plant parts

• Animal symbionts– Guts of ruminants, leaf cutter ants

• Plant pathogens– Causal agents of many diseases

• Animal pathogens– Disease severity varies

• Do you like fermented beverages?– Thank the fungi!

Basidiomycota

• About 30,000 described species, 30% of the all of true Fungi (Schmidt-

Dannert, 2016)

• Produce mushrooms• Includes yeasts and asexual species. • Found in virtually all terrestrial ecosystems, as well as freshwater and

marine habitats.

Ascomycota

• 70% of all described fungi (Schmidt-Dannert, 2016)

• Includes most of the fungi that combine with algae to form lichens, yeasts, Penicillium chrysogenum, producer of penicillin

“Zygomycota”

• Bread molds• Fungi that swims (flagella)• Pilobolus, hat thrower fungus• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4n0b5rMqE0

Anatomy of a mushroom

=group of hyphae Hyphae= Single strand, one cell thick, thousands of cells long

Mushroom life cycle

Fungal jobs in your garden• Plant decomposers

– Without them we would be buried in plant material• Plant symbionts

– May establish relationships with all plant parts• Animal symbionts

– Guts of ruminants, leaf cutter ants, termites• Plant pathogens

– Causal agents of many diseases• Animal pathogens

– Disease severity varies• Do you like fermented beverages?

– Thank the fungi!

Plant decomposers

• In a food chain, fungi come second, and third, and fourth…

• Primary decomposers of cellulose and lignin– Fungi open the cell wall

and make nutrients available for other decomposers

• Fungi make resources available for your plants!

Plant Symbionts: Mycorrhizae

• Root symbionts: Mychorrhizae. • Plant produces more sugars than are needed

– exchange with fungus for minerals

• Species specific relationships– Plants decide if they want to connect– Nitrogen and Phosphorus dependent

• Limited root radius for plant alone – can’t walk to food, can’t access pore spaces

– Fungus extends the range, gets inside tiny pores

• Bonus points for offering protection– Desiccation– Physical block of pathogens

Plant Symbionts: Beyond ecto and endomycorrhizae

Entomopathogenic fungi• Entomo Insects, pathogenic able to cause a disease• Pathogenic fungi help reduce the population of individuals

of their host. Species specific.

Zombie Ants: Cordyceps

• Cordyceps: attack of the killer fungi – Planet Earth– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X

uKjBIBBAL8

Fungus in your garden:Nematode police

• Nematodes on the roots:– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z

rogAKO3dhI• Nematode killing machine

– https://youtu.be/14zmmbXsyuM

Meet your local friends:

• Difficult ID due to specimen age• Missing a clear shot of gills• My best guess: given the color, cap, and habitat:

Pluteus petasatus• https://www.mushroomexpert.com/pluteus_petasatus.html

Meet your local friends:

Boletus harrisonii

• Found Monday, at Rock Creek Park• 3 views: Top, bottom, and habitat• Interesting characteristic: bruises blue• Has many look-alikes in this area• Present in areas where European trees

have been planted.

Meet your local friends:

Trametes versicolor = Turkey tail

• 3 views: Top, bottom, and habitat• Persistent all year• Grows on dead wood• Interesting characteristic: turns blue

gray when freezes in nature & has medicinal properties

• Has many look-alikes in this area

Meet your local friends:

Conocybe lactea= white dunce cap

• 3 views: Top, bottom, and habitat• Found in Spring and Fall• Grows on lawns• Interesting characteristic: appears in the mornings. It is usually

gone by afternoon of the same day.

Meet your local friends:

Coprinopsis variegata = Ringless honey mushroom

• 3 views: Top, bottom, and habitat• Found in Summer and Fall• Grows on decaying wood• Interesting characteristic: it belongs to a deliquescent family of

mushrooms

Meet your local friends:

Armillaria mellea = Honey mushroom

• The most widespread of all bioluminescent species, found across North America, Europe and Asia

• Tree pathogen• Same genus as the oldest living organism

in the world• Common root rot and wood decay fungi.

Grows in (and on) old stumps, dead trees, buried roots, and downed logs

• Armillaria bioluminescence has a daily light intensity rhythm with maximum intensity around 7:30pm and a minimum intensity around 7:30am

• The mushroom is not luminescent. Armillaria's mycelium and rhizomorphsare luminous

Meet your local friends:

Panellus Stipticus = Bitter oysterling

• Panellus stipticus is a widely distributed, hardwood-rotting saprobe, but it is more common in eastern North America

• Quite tough, and revives in rainwater after drying out

Meet your local friends:

Crucibulum laeve = Bird’s nest fungi

• Unusual mushroom type• Found in Summer through Fall• Grows on decaying wood, commonly found in mulch• Interesting characteristic: the “eggs” are called petioles and they

are sacs of spores that get ejected out with falling raindrops

Meet your local friends:

Mutinus elegans, M. caninus, & M. ravenelii= Common stink horns• Unusual mushroom type• Found in Spring and Fall• Grows on decaying wood, commonly found in mulch• Interesting characteristic: they are called stinkhorns because of

their smell, which is produced to attract flies. The flies land on the slimy brown spore mass and transport the spores wherever they go.

Meet your local friends:

Omphalotus illudens = Jack O'Lantern• Common fall mushroom east of the Rocky

Mountains• Frequently found in urban settings, sprouting from

and around dead trees and stumps (2 yrs ago I saw it on a couple front

• yards of Takoma Park, close to Ethan Allen Ave & 410)

Resources• Bioluminescence in Mushroom and its

application potential – article:– https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/29bf/06b3fc368e3659

a55a776222267032369da6.pdf

• Mushroom Expert– www.mushroomexpert.com

• Paul Stamets: – http://www.fungi.com/about-paul-

stamets.html– https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_

on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world?utm_campaign=tedspread--a&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

• Introductory lesson plan – interpretation for children

– http://www.namyco.org/basic_lesson.php• Roger’s mushrooms

– http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/• Tom Volk’s fungi

– http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/• Cornell’s Mushroom blog

– https://blog.mycology.cornell.edu/

• State of the world fungi report– https://stateoftheworldsfungi.org/2018/re

ports/SOTWFungi_2018_Full_Report.pdf• Beautiful mushroom pictures from all over the

world– https://steveaxford.smugmug.com/

• Facebook groups:– Mushroom Identification Forum, FUNGI

magazine, Ascomycetes of the world, Ganoderma, Mushroom Photography

Contact your local mycologist for help, we love to inspire the next generation!

How to ID mushrooms• Using your phone take pictures of:

– Top – Bottom– Attachment or substrate– If attached to another living organism, ID the

organism whenever possible– Cut through the fungi (bigger specimens)– Any bruising? (press parts of the mushroom and wait

for a couple of minutes)• Using the iNaturalist app, add the pictures you

just took to an observation.– Include in notes odor, & texture– Taste test consist on chewing a small piece of the

mushroom, allowing it to mix with saliva in your mouth for 30 seconds and then spit it out.

Resources for your phone

• Roger mushrooms app – Free

• iNaturalist app – Free

• Ascomycetes of North America digital book - $$$

Do’s and Don’ts• Do get to know poisonous mushrooms• Do pick mature specimens• Do smell the mushroom• Do observe substrate• Use wax paper or paper bags to separate mushrooms• Annotate date and place (or take a picture with your

smart phone – it does it for you)

• DO NOT CONSUME unknown mushrooms• DO NOT believe “rules” for edible mushrooms, there isn’t

one. You have to know the species• If you consume a mushroom for the first time, make sure

to get a positive ID from an expert, and save a sample of the mushroom

High resolution at:https://goo.gl/images/V0nq69

THANK YOU

Plant Symbionts: Endomycorrhizae

• 2 main types of mycorrhizae– ENDOmycorrhizae & ECTOmycorrhizae

• Endomycorrhizae: endo = inside, myco = fungus, rrhizae = roots– Arbuscular mycorrhizas– Arbuscules and vesicles by fungi of the phylum Glomeromycota. – Help capture nutrients: Ph, S, N and micronutrients from the soil. – Development of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis played a crucial role in

the initial colonization of land by plants and evolution of the vascular plants– Fungus penetrates cell wall but not cell membrane

Plant Symbionts: Endomycorrhizae

ARBUSCULES

VESICLES

CLAMYDOSPORES

Plant Symbionts: Ectomycorrhizae• Symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal

symbiont and the roots of various plant species.• ecto = outside, myco = fungus, rrhizae = roots• mycobiont tends to be predominantly from the phyla

Basidiomycota and Ascomycota, although a few are represented in the phylum Zygomycota.