Decay images

Having picked up on something Tony said yesterday & seeing Tom was asking for atypical images of Merip root decay, thought it would be good idea to get a set of shots together in one place for reference.

Here's some of the white rot in roots of Beech, associated with Meripilus giganteus.

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david, do you see how dark the merip is on that root plate!

quality posting!

First two were from a windthrow in the Basque from last year.

As is the first one here.

The rest are from HH during an airspade investigation.

Showing last years desicated and also from a few days back.

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Why not in merip thread?

There appears to be less fruiting body this year...? The roots at the basal junction...( sometimes called "zone of rapid taper "- between 1-2 m from stem ) clearly showing compensatory growth.

Ive just been rather irritated by a thread on the uktc concerning this fungus. No mention of the partner in crimes' identity ( second decay infection ) and claims that a root investigation is beyond reasonable cost. Move straight to fell.

Fair enough, there may be more to the situation than revealed. I am not convinced. They go on to discuss the spelling of Meripilus, as if it is suddenly the focus of the thread's core...Talk about head up one's posterior- sorry, a bit annoyed!

Why not in merip thread?

 

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Thought a place for generic decay would be good for members to put it together in one place, then I will hopefully add relevant shots to each gallery in the Directory.

Merip was just the catalyst for the thread.

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There appears to be less fruiting body this year...? :

Loads on many different species down here Tim.

Right now appears to be the start of the climax fruiting.

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david, do you see how dark the merip is on that root plate!

 

quality posting!

I m not sure I agree with you there. The fungus will change its strategy..Once down, I would expect the tree to be consumed in saprotrobic mode . Why work harder than necessary?

And it looks rather orange to me!

Loads on many different species down here Tim.

 

Right now appears to be the start of the climax fruiting.

 

 

 

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Someone needs to have a word with this Meripilus character and tell it to keep it's head down and it's mouth shut....

I m not sure I agree with you there. The fungus will change its strategy..Once down, I would expect the tree to be consumed in saprotrobic mode . Why work harder than necessary?

And it looks rather orange to me!

whilst were on the subject of spelling! saprotrophic!

Also, if as JFL hypothesises there are two forms, why would it differ when having felled the tree continuing to feast upon the corpses flesh?

Simple, it wouldnt, cos thats its form, colour etc.

I could supply a list as long as your arm of fungi that do not change when parasitic nor saprotrophically feeding.

Also colour recognition differs greatly in humans, why even between the sexes, with women showing higher tonal recognition than men, so maybe your a little short of tonal range Tim?

The meripilus in Davids first shot is cleary the same dark brown, thicker bodied and also warty underside and more orange in tonal hues than the big meripilus that is almost white (undersides).

Ive got good money riding on this.

Thanks for those shots David. There is one shot of particular interest to me which is the close up of the individual root. This looks quite fibrous almost, and also a bit damp. I am now wondering in perhaps the killer wasnt merip. Heres some pics of the tree in question, but i fear that they are not of sufficient quality to be of any use. (As it happens the T.O has advisd 5 day notice without fail on the neighbouring tree, due to the extreme possibility of loss of human life in this case, but I would like to attempt to establish the cause)

If its of any relevance to ident, there is evidence of C.O.D in the roots, but you cant make it out in the pics, and they seem fairly dry at the points of failure, the breakages look similar to that found in branches that are dead in the canopy of hardwoods if you know what i am trying to explain... (sorry- monumentally awkward and large radiata deadwood today- only just got in)