Split beech with Ganoderma + Fomes

[Fungus]

Documentation of a beech, which has been split in half by the mycelia of Fomes fomentarius and Ganoderma lipsiense, is provided. The about 150 years old beech is standing in a mixed forest, which has not been managed over some decades, on poor sandy soil.

Photo 1/2/3 : show the remaining parts of the trunk from two sides after the tree has been split in half and lost its crown, with the branches falling towards two sides of the tree trunk.

Photo 4/5 : show the inactive and active perennial brackets of G. lipsiense on two sides of the base of the trunk.

Photo 6/7 : show the perennial brackets of F. fomentarius on the broken off upper trunk, which have for the greater part been developed after the tree was completely delaminated, split in half and the crown fell to both sides of the remaining trunk.

Photo 8 : shows the "brittle" white rot with selective delignification bordered by black demarcation lines caused by the mycelium of G. lipsiense in a piece of central wood from the base of the trunk.

[David Goss]

Always a pleasure and very informative reading your threads Gerrit

[Fungus]

And for those interested in the Mycena in the fifth photo with the old Gano's, it's M. galericulata, a species decomposing wood with organohalogenes or polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Fungus

[David Humphries]

And for those interested in the Mycena in the fifth photo with the old Gano's, it's M. galericulata, a species decomposing wood with organohalogenes or polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

 

 

Didn't notice those first time round.

Sneaky little sapros

 

 

great set of shots Gerrit, gets the mind buzzing thinking of the life of the tree before & after it's demise

 

 

 

 

 

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[RobArb]

what are the three mini brackets in pic 5 on the right of the G. lipsiense bracket?

[Fungus]

what are the three mini brackets in pic 5 on the right of the G. lipsiense bracket?

 

Rob,

Well noticed . Annual sterile panic fruiting of the nearly dead mycelium of G. lipsiense at this side of the base of the trunk.

Edited August 5, 2011 by Fungus

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Nice little series Gerrit, thanks for sharing

[treeseer]

Again, startling and dramatic images--thanks! Given lack of past history (assuming no one here is that old), I'm wondering how it was determined that it was the fungal mycelia that split the tree in half. Could the primary damage and splitting been done by lightning, or another tree falling on it, and the fungi moved in to mop up?

 

A German mycologist showed us some research last month that seemed to conclude convincingly that G. lispiense was very weak; largely saprophytic, compared to G adspersum or applanatum. I believe the host involved in the study was Fagus, too.

 

No denying that fungus plays a large role here, but the look of the standing dead tree seems to indicate a violent past.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Again, startling and dramatic images--thanks! Given lack of past history (assuming no one here is that old), I'm wondering how it was determined that it was the fungal mycelia that split the tree in half. Could the primary damage and splitting been done by lightning, or another tree falling on it, and the fungi moved in to mop up?

 

A German mycologist showed us some research last month that seemed to conclude convincingly that G. lispiense was very weak; largely saprophytic, compared to G adspersum or applanatum. I believe the host involved in the study was Fagus, too.

 

No denying that fungus plays a large role here, but the look of the standing dead tree seems to indicate a violent past.

 

Firstly G. applanatum= G. lipsiense, they are the same fungus:001_smile:

 

it takes only a simple limb failure to let the fungi in to the heartwood/ripe wood regions where (at times of drought/stress/ripening) they will gain ground from within (according to their invasive/enzymatic potential) A fully mature tree with no die back/retrenchment would be highly prone to stem cracks as in Gerrits example with only modest colonisation of Ganos/fommes.

 

The appeareance may well be of a violent past, but it is in most instances the alteration of wood, if only on a small scale that increases the abiotic forces potential for damage in all but the most extreme of weather events.

[Fungus]

1. Given lack of past history (assuming no one here is that old)

2. I'm wondering how it was determined that it was the fungal mycelia that split the tree in half.

3.Could the primary damage and splitting been done by lightning, or another tree falling on it, and the fungi moved in to mop up?

4. A German mycologist showed us some research last month that seemed to conclude convincingly that G. lispiense was very weak; largely saprophytic, compared to G adspersum. I believe the host involved in the study was Fagus, too.

5. No denying that fungus plays a large role here, but the look of the standing dead tree seems to indicate a violent past.

 

Guy,

1. I'm not that old, but I've known the tree for 45 years, as us boys in our teens in the early days of courtship took our girlfriends to a still existing little stone "gazebo" in the woods close to this impressive beech. The tree was split in half (torsion forces) and fell two years ago in a storm, which uprooted 100+ oaks standing beside local roads within the region, where I have returned to, after 8 years of living and working in the German Eifel, three years ago. I've re-assessed and monitored this forest since my return and compare the data with the data I collected 28-25 years ago, when we spent some time in a summer house nearby.

2. The splitting in half was done by the mycelial sheets of the simultaneous white rotter Fomes fomentarius, which had colonized the trunk of the tree from 3 metres up from the forest floor and for the greater part was (partially panic) fruiting after parts of the trunk and the crown branches where horizontal with soil contact. The wood decay (white rot with selective delignification) at and just above ground level was coming from the mycelium of G. lipsiense (= G. applanatum), which made the tree especially vulnerable for wind throw, which probably would have happened if the tree wasn't split in half. Also see Tony's (Hamadryad) post.

3. No, until recently, in The Netherlands there was a saying : with thunder and lightning about, avoid (acid rich) oaks, which attract lightning and find shelter underneath the canopy of a beech, because beeches were never struck by lightning.

Nowadays beeches standing at the edges of woodlands, which are heavily under the influence of ammonia deposition (nitrification) coming from maize fields and manured grasslands, are sometimes struck by lightning because of the changes in the constituents of the surface of their "skin" (bark), which turn the bark from neutral into negative attracting electrical discharges of lightning because of the hightened conductivity.

4. I suppose, you mean Francis Schwartze, a former employee of the "VTA-professor" Claus Mattheck, I did field research for and worked with for 10+ years. Schwartz's research into Fomes and Ganoderma species was for the greater part done under controlled in vitro or laboratory settings. The checking of his findings in field studies with life trees was done by German and Dutch tree health specialists and a mycologist (me).

If you want to read more about the differences between the tree species specific attacking strategies of the perennial necrotrophic parasitic G. lipsiense and the perennial biotrophic parasitic G. australe (= G. adspersum), I suggest you digest what can be found on this forum if you use Search and scan for the Ganoderma thread and other posts and threads with information on (other) Ganoderma species, such as the annual G. lucidum, G. resinaceum or G. carnosum and the perennial G. pfeifferi.

5. No violent past (see 1.), but entirely attributable to fungal activity - especially of Fomes - inside the tree.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Fungus