Bialowieza Forest, Poland

[David Humphries]

That red-banded polypore looks like it must invest a lot of energy into the sporophores. Were the brackets on the dead logs much larger than on the living trees?

 

That's an interesting point Chris.

 

I didn't actually measure any of the brackets, but I would say that it was more the age of the fruit body rather than the condition of the substrata that governed the size of the sporophores.

 

Has to be said that the vast majority of the brackets that I came across were on already dead or dysfunctional wood causing a brown rot as in the last image below. Hardly any brackets on live trees.

 

Mattheck has it down as parasitic and saprobic

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[Kveldssanger]

The rationale behind my comment comes in the sense that the dead tree wouldn't actively be putting on any new defences to counter decay, giving the fungus an easier time (within reason, as chemicals and such laid down will remain following death). This would allow for it to do one of two things: (1) invest more time into sporophore formation, or (2) invest more time in colonising the remaining substrate accessible (sans boring insects breaking the barriers [assuming the tree is still standing of course] and / or the hyphae have not reachd the 'ends' of the logs and cannot 'migrate' into the outer wood not encased by the reaction zone [is this even feasible for the species?]), at the expense of sporophore formation.

 

Absolutely stunning pictures, I must say. I actually wouldn't mind seeing one of those on a tree over here, merely so I can admire the form! Is there any reason behind the colouration? This can also apply to fungi as a whole - why do they adopt particular pigmentations? I cannot say I have ever read why.

[josharb87]

I know part of the conference is looking at Ancient and Veteran tree management in the urban environment.

 

 

Great photos of a wonderful trip. Not jealous in the slightest, just happy for you 😄

 

I think that's the conference that's today and yesterday in stockholm, there's another up in Umeå in november

 

Sorry for the derail David

[Kveldssanger]

Well this is uncanny. Reading through my book Plant Sensing & Communication, and I come across this:

 

"The bright colours of many fungi have been interpreted as aposematic, and plants hosting fungi that are highly toxic to vertebrates may benefit through association with these fungi that herbivores avoid."

 

Perhaps one can therefore suggest that fungi have such distinct colours as the genotypes that formed such coloured brackets were less prone to fungivores, thereby facilitating greater propagation of their offspring and perpetuating the 'brightly-coloured bracket allele' within the gene pool. Span this out over milennia, and that may be where we are today.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Kveldssanger

[arb culture]

David,

 

Thank you for sharing - I studied this forest when I was at Uni, I've been fascinated ever since.

 

It's so lovely to see good quality photos of this magical place taken by an experienced arb.

 

Cheers,

 

James

[sean]

Devastating news about the possible demise of this unique forest. I was wondering if you had spoke to anybody with regards this during your visit David?

 

Last stand for Europe's remaining ancient forest as loggers prepare to move in | Environment | The Guardian

[David Humphries]

It hadn't raised its ugly head last year whilst I was there Sean.

 

Ted, Nev and Helen were over there a couple of weeks back so I'm sure they will have a better 'more local' handle on the situation.

 

I haven't had a chance to talk to any of them specifically about it yet.

 

Will speak with Nev when I get the chance in a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

Hadn't read this particular article either, thanks for posting.

 

 

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Edited May 18, 2016 by David Humphries

[Kveldssanger]

"Last week, another 32 members were dismissed from the state council for nature conservation, an advisory body which had opposed the logging plan and has been accused of “inefficiency”.

 

“We were sacked because the new government needs scientists who will applaud increased logging, to convince public opinion that this insane idea is okay,” said Przemysław Chylarecki, one of the dismissed scientists."

 

"Most of the new council member are foresters, or colleagues of the environment minister, he added."

 

That's absolutely effing atrocious.

 

I see the monotheistic world view of dropping forests for man's gain as God made the forests for man to subdue still hasn't escaped the mindset of many, even if fewer these days are outwardly religious in that regard.

[Kveldssanger]

I would however ssay that the bison will probably benefit from the felling, because of the increased biomass available for grazing.

[treeseer]

Moving in the foxes to manage the henhouse, and cover up with lies--sounds like a US move. Inefficiency....

 

Anyway I'm glad to hear the US was represented by del Tredici; a keen and independent mind, far removed from the corporate wonks that distort and dominate arb in the US and ISA.

Good news about the book effort; a worthy endeavour! How far along are they; what news to share about the book's thrust?

No reps from Asia or Oz?

Edited May 28, 2016 by treeseer