Tree assessment/forest pathology

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

A tree we felled today, obvious armillaria infection, less obvious was the Kretzschmaria which is evident on the stumps cut surface. Enclosed also is a shot of my evaluation of the cause and vector, drain installation around ten years ago.

 

Been watching this lime for over a year maybe two, and yes i did my duty today, alas as ever to no avail. So Lime with Kretzschmaria, theres the rotten remains of a previous fell/failure with obvious kretz/gano combo. Found a couple of interesting geastrums close by too which i will post in Gerrits thread later.

 

And within 100 yds of the tree which was Acer platanoides was this drought stressed birch with armillaria taking hold of the situation.

 

[Fungus]

An example of the body language of the next phase of an infection with a parasitic Armillaria species in beech.

 

And another example with compensatory root development.

---

[Fungus]

An example of the body language of the next phase of an infection with a parasitic Armillaria species in beech.

 

And documentation of what the sap wood of a beech looks like after the bark is thrown and the rhizomorphs or plaques of or superficial white rot by Armillaria are exposed.

The same trunk is covered with lots of perennial brackets of Trametes gibbosa, which started fruiting after its mycelium had killed the mycelium of Bjerkandera adusta. And one FB of Coriolopsis trogii is present too.

---

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

nice, so this "killing" of the mycelium of bjerkandera adusta by trametes gibbosa, i am assuming this effect is something you studied in vitro to establish it as certainty? and what did the war in a petri dish look like?

[Fungus]

nice, so this "killing" of the mycelium of bjerkandera adusta by trametes gibbosa, i am assuming this effect is something you studied in vitro to establish it as certainty? and what did the war in a petri dish look like?

 

No, this is based on well documented in situ and in vitro research done by others. And the same goes for Lenzites betulinus (see photo also showing Panellus stipticus) killing the mycelium of Trametes versicolor.

---

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

is it specificaly "killing" or feeding on it?

[Fungus]

is it specificaly "killing" or feeding on it?

 

It is killing the mycelium after which the hyphae of the successor fill in the "tunnels" created by the mycelium of the first colonizer of the wood, which is "prepared" for further decay by the successor through the wood degrading enzymes or polyaromatic hydrocarbons produced by Trametes versicolor or Bjerkandera adusta.

[sean freeman]

No, this is based on well documented in situ and in vitro research done by others. And the same goes for Lenzites betulinus (see photo also showing Panellus stipticus) killing the mycelium of Trametes versicolor.

---

 

Hello Gerrit, two questions...

 

1. Do you know if the parasitism of Trametes versicolor is something common to other Lenzites sp? (we have Lenzites acuta recorded in Queensland...which is what I think is in the photos below)

 

2. Is there one or two general (or specific) texts that you know of which covers this important aspect of fungal ecology? (I don't mind that they will be Nth Hemisphere based I am interested in getting a better understanding of the ecology.)

[Fungus]

1. Do you know if the parasitism of Trametes versicolor is something common to other Lenzites sp? (we have Lenzites acuta recorded in Queensland...which is what I think is in the photos below)

2. Is there one or two general (or specific) texts that you know of which covers this important aspect of fungal ecology?

 

Sean,

1. No, the parasitism is the other way around, Lenzites betulinus kills the mycelium of Trametes versicolor.

2. No, my information comes from several different sources.

[sean freeman]

Thanks Gerrit, I understood the relationship as you described sorry if my choice of grammatical syntax was confusing (It confuses lots including me sometimes!)...I was wondering if you knew if this behaviour extended beyond L.betulinus to other Lenzites sp?