the body language of Decay, The Delights of D

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Cherries all have "great hairy bruisers" for root systems.

Nursery production has given rise to a great many grafts also.

 

Enjoying the thread!

 

funny how where the fruiting is there is no "great hairy bruisers" though huh Tim!

 

More escape fruiting me thinks

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Inonotus dryadeus- as proof of just how common it is, still having doubts?

 

The image below is as perfect a cone optomisation as youll ever see, had the lowest branches not been removed we would see a similar curve reflected above as if in a mirror, just like in Claus Matthecks tensile triangles:thumbup1:

 

 

And another tree that is as chatty as any ive ever met, bit like me really, a right ol gas bag and we had a bit of a banter me and this oak.

 

With a slight lean but no ill health symptoms and a good crown its clear that the colonisation is compartmentalised and is adapting well, however in this case the lean is complicating the mechanical stresses on the tree as will be revealed.

 

 

As you can see, there is a distinct hollowing of the centre portion this extends into the lower region of the roots, which will have formed occluding ribs and reiterated new roots from the oclluding tissues:001_cool:

 

 

In this image we see the tension roots and bark delaminations, along with some forming shears along the active root connected vascular bundles (force flows) without reduction this tree will fail, but Im hoping to gain permission to prevent this

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Today seems like a good oportunity to bring up the decay of Inonotus hispidus on Fraxinus, its co evolved host. I think hispidus is a critical fungi in the life cylce of Ash trees, it has distinct effects on the tree which in most instances prove advantagious.

 

Not only is this relationship benificial for the tree AND the fungi, the relationship between ash and hispidus creates very important niches for invertibrates and many higher animals, like woodpeckers, owls and bats.

 

This group of Ash are known localy as the seven sisters, and a fine group they are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chris cnc]

very interesting:thumbup1:

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Every once in a while I am confronted by the very essence of that which I seek, the ultimate expression of co evolutionary relationships, the fine line between parasitism and mutual existance and sustanence:001_cool:

 

I walk so far and hunt so widely, why? because somewhere out there, in an isolated woodland is the evidence i seek, when i found this tree i was rendered imobile. It is the very exact example i expected of this relationship.

 

Hows this for the ultimate expression of Auricularia mesenterica on beech:001_cool:

 

[sean freeman]

Now that is a seriously cool photograph

[sloth]

Well, I have nothing to add to this thread but my thanks for expanding my knowledge of fungi and decay. You are a very learned bunch, thanks for sharing the experience and wisdom you have gained with others. I'll be watching....

[Amelanchier]

Interesting thread Tony (you not me) and much to discuss.

 

I think its generally recognised now that there is a spectrum of saprotrophism/parasitism within fungal/tree relationships but I wonder how confident we can be that a relationship is 'beneficial' to the host? How would you define benefit - increased longevity/reproductive capacity/resistance to other decay organisms?

 

Could you expand on the Ash/Inonotus example?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Interesting thread Tony (you not me) and much to discuss.

 

I think its generally recognised now that there is a spectrum of saprotrophism/parasitism within fungal/tree relationships but I wonder how confident we can be that a relationship is 'beneficial' to the host? How would you define benefit - increased longevity/reproductive capacity/resistance to other decay organisms?

 

Could you expand on the Ash/Inonotus example?

 

I thought no one was going to ask!

 

There is as you say much to discuss, and I hope you will forgive my amatuerish ways and encourage me to refine it to a more academicly appropriate style! dont get fustrated with it, help me change it!

 

Now then, benifits V detriments, thats a difficult one to define sometimes as you say, but there are clear examples of these relationships that certainly from a field observing point of view to have distinct advantages.

 

firstly, fungi recycle nutrients long since extracted from the soil and locked up within the woody structure of trees, this is common knowledge, is it not?

 

A tree has no need of its central core as long as its structural integrity is adequate it can and will stand hollow for all its old age, or will it?

 

ONLY with the help of fungi, certain relationships, like Hispidus/ash and oak with inonotus dryadeus/fistulina/laetiporus are cleary of great benifit to BOTH parties, the tree is able to shed limbs with minimal damge due to the modes of decays, and this ensures longevity in the tree, and continuity of mycelium sustenance in the many hundreds of years a tree may live for.

 

Fungi are older than trees within the evolutionary scale, it isnt hard to imagine that trees have ALWAYS been living with fungi and have evolved under thier highly varied strategies. Fungi being the oldest of organisms, has meant they have been around long enoug to not only observe the birth of all other organisms and species but to evolve along with them and take full advantage of them. one might even argue this influence has meant that life on earth has in fact been influenced/cultivated by fungi in thier own best interests!

 

But back to the relationship between hispidus and the ash, as with many fungal host relationships that are predominantly heart rotting this results in limb loss for the most part, natural pruning, woundwood ribs and tissues are highly adaptive forming roots or shoots at will providing the climate is right, light or damp, a recently opened canopy or an increasingly damp rot pocket full of broken down debris ripe for the advantigous roots to form.

 

This proscess of natural thinning and reduction leaving the main stem almost entirely intact has enable trees to continue growing when if this proscess was not there it would continue to grow, over burden itself and iether fail under its own burgeoning wieght or in the next winter storms, most likely smashing/tearing the main stem in the proscess, a highly undersirable outcome indeed.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

there are structural benifits from heart rot too, that involve the differences in tissues laid down in youth, I.E stright up aligned to compete, as aposed to the older root systems of late maturity and the new laying down of wood in an entirely different manner, this creates internal stresses, but this is another subject.