Fungus

David, Now you're starting to sound like an old man ready for early retirement .

Tony, By doing exactly what you already suggested , reducing the load/weight and saving as much foliage as one can. I only wanted to point out, that although poorly developed, there is more to account for with this tree species specific ecosystem, then there is for the ecosystems of trees with endomycorrhizal partners.

Rob, What species, in what numbers and associated with what trees ? By the way, I didn't know dead people also had mycorrhizal partners . And speaking of rhizomorphs, a grave digger once told me, that he while opening a coffin to reallocate the corpse, found rhizomorphs growing from the wooden lid downwards towards the skeleton where they were attached to the chestbone .

Brett, Also bare in mind, that Nothofagus, being a non-indigenous tree species and a partner of ectomycorrhizal macrofungi, in Europe depends on a much smaller spectrum of ectomycorrhizal symbionts, then the tree species specific ecosystem originally can rely on. So reducing them could also trigger panic fruiting of the few symbionts they have associated with their roots, which could on top of the reaction of the mycelium of the Ganoderma further mean a drain of the energy the trees so desperately need for their own survival.

I did, so did you read my review of the "scientific" articles he cited ?

But with A. mesenterica, wouldn't you have found some fresh, dried out or revived fruiting of it inside the wound ?

Rob, While monitoring macrofungi in a Dutch dune reserve with free range ponies and cows, I noticed, that the tops of fresh branches of Salix repens were knibbled off by the ponies. When I inspected their excrements looking for fungi, I noticed lots of dead intestine worms. So it not only works for a headache .

Tony, How interesting did this eventually get then ?

You mean roedeer, cows or horses wearing monkey masks, searching for some willow aspirin (salycic acid) to "kill" a headache with ?

Tony, Agreed, but would you also attribute the vertical split with necrosis at the margins to Armillaria ? I would sooner expect this to be caused by either the ascomycete Nectria galligena, or by the bacteria Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. fraxini.

Tony, And you're aware of the hidden life Oxyporus populinus lives and how hard it is to find one because of that and that it is easily mistaken for Trametes gibbosa (with green algae) in its first fruiting phase ? After I detected my first one years ago and got to know its appearance, habitat, preferred locations (the western Dutch provinces) and hiding places, I have seen at least a dozen since, mostly between the buttresses of poplars, but also two times on Sycamore, once at the base of and once fruiting from a wound on the lower part of the trunk.

Tony, With so many old willows in The Netherlands, except for old free standing "weeping willows" in parks, as a general strategy and pro-active action, we fully pollard them the first cut, before the remaining trunks hollows so far, that the second year branches on top of the "mop" head break or tare off before the second years "pruning" of the pollarded willow can take place. This way we conserve far more old pollarded willows, then if one would bring down the tree in three steps.

You could also consider : Oxyporus populinus, which sometimes is found on Sycamore in The Netherlands.

Although there is no scientific evidence for this, I dare to speculate, that Agaricales with soft lamellae, like Mycena's, Omphalotus and Panellus, use it to attract snails and slugs during night time, which by eating of the gills while moving all over them, contribute to the short distance dispersion of the spores by "glueing" them to woody substrates, which they "slide" over after finishing the meal. As far as rhizomorphs are concerned, I think the purpose of them being bio-luminescent is to shed a light on their underground tracks while further stretching out in search of damaged, growing hormones secreting roots to prey on .

So would I, although 100 % sure ? In this case : microscope.

Why in meaning a reason for its existence or in meaning on what these bio-luminescent properties are based ?

1. In WW-I, soldiers wore pieces of with rhizomorphs infected wood on their helmets to prevent bumping into each other at night in the trenches and in the river delta woodlands of the Biesbosch in The Netherlands, stumps infected with rhizomorphs were responsible for the late night phenomenon of will-o'-the-wisps or wildfire lights, causing people in row boats to think there was a house or a barn with the lights on, they could find shelter in. 2. Yes many others, among which other tropical Mycena species used by the Papua's from Papua New Guinea to leave behind on their way into the forest at strategic points to be able to find their way back while returning to their villages, Omphalotus illudens and Panellus stipticus.

David, No, I only found P. umbellatus once and it was under poor light conditions, as you probably can see in the photo.

Annual brackets fan-shaped to broadly tongue- or spatula-shaped, with several leathery brackets growing from a single central, repeatedly branched stem, 20-50 cm in diameter, brackets 4-10 cm wide, 5-10 mm thick, with lateral stem, upper surface fibrillose-wrinkled, cream to ochrous brown to grey-brown, tubes 2-5 mm long, whitish, pores 2 per mm, circular to polygonal, whitish to cream, flesh fibrillose, white, smell pleasantly fresh, spores white. Biotrophic parasite, causing white rot, at the base and on the roots or stumps of old oaks. Summer to autumn. Can be mistaken for Polyporus umbellatus, a saprotrophic species, which shows more branching and fruits at the base of old beeches, oak and alder. Photo 1 : young on stump of Quercus robur. Photo 2 : old on roots of Quercus robur. Photo 3 : Polyporus umbellatus on Fagus. ---

Fomitopsis pinicola. Perennial brackets hoof- to bracket-like shaped, 5-20 x 5-10 cm, 3-15 cm thick, with whitish to yellowish rounded marginal growth zone. Upper surface concentrically zoned, smooth, hard due to resin-like top layer, orange-red to yellow pink or grey-pink, becoming grey to grey-black at the center, tubes 1-2 mm long, cream to ochraceus yellow, pores 3-4 per mm, circular, cream to yellowish to brownish, often with yellowish guttation drops, flesh hard, tough, cream to ochraceus, smell somewhat sower, irritating, spores white. Necrotrophic parasite, causes brown rot, on coniferous trees and Betula, Fagus, Quercus, Acer and Prunus. Photo 1 : on Picea. Photo 2 : on Betula. Photo 3 : on Prunus. Photo 4 : on Fagus with guttation drops. ---

Agreed, but if becoming fully developed as yet and the number and possible size of full grown brackets taken into account, the tree is even more dangerous, as for developing annual brackets, the mycelium has up to 120 % more cellulose (= about 70 % of the wood) to decompose inside as the total biomass of the brackets developed outside, because in converting the sugar polymere cellulose into the sugar polymere chitine, about 20 % of the cellulose (energy) is lost in the process.

Gary, In causing an intensive brown rot of the central "low quality" wood of the trunk, Laetiporus sulphureus can become quite dangerous on willows. Besides, the shape and the number of the poorly developed annual brackets are signs of panic reproduction, indicating that the mycelium has done (most of) its decomposing work. The willow in my photo looked perfectly stable from the outside, but turned out to be completely decayed and hollow after the tree broke at the level of the brackets and fell three weeks after the photo was taken. ---

Tony, Thanks for the support, which actually is not needed being faced with someone, who continuously shoots himself in his own foot by citing biased "research" done by others.

And I don't think you really did read or study, let alone understand the articles, because if you would have had your "science" up to date, you would not have overlooked the following : 1. In this article, of which my Dutch collegue Thom Kuyper (Alterra, Wageningen University) is a co-author, a review of experiments on "both biochar additions and mycorrhizal abundance subject to management practice" is presented with the following remarks : "A few studies observed negative effects. There is potential for negative effects on mycorrhizal fungi. The species composition of a mycological fungal assemblage can be important to mycorrhizal functioning. Data on this important aspect of the response of mycorrhizal fungi to biochar are not yet available, but present an important priority for future studies." 2. What were you thinking, presenting a case of : "Biochar use in the Poultry Industry" producing chicken s..t as fertilizer ? 3. Microorganisms, more microorganisms, microbal products, microbial fertilizers, biomass waste : since when are microorganisms micro- or macrofungi, i.e. AMF- or ectomycorrhizal symbionts ? 4. Farms, more farms, agriculture, Agro-Environmental Sciences : where are the trees and (natural) forests, you keep referring to ? 5. Correction, there is one review of the effects of biochar and AMF on commercial, economical, short term life cycle forestry of trees, i.e. - surprise, surprise - wood (timber) production and - one could have expected this - of charcoal production . 6. Crops, maize, more maize, corn, tomato and rice. And good to know I can supply my home grown vegetables with an aspirin (or pulverized shoots and bark of Salix) when they are feeling poorly and not growing very well. 7. Who do you think are behind these websites and what is their obvious, not very "hidden" agenda ? And why are the producers and resellers of charcoal so fanatic and focussed on short term "results", as if their life - and not that of trees - and good fortune depends on it ? Evaluating your "research" findings on the worldwideweb and in assuming you're the true field expert on tree species specific and forest ecosystems and their soil food webs, in which ectomycorrhizal macrofungi play a significant, if not the most important role, I - not being a "Para-Medic Gardener" or "Surgeon Chem-Engineer" - for my part end this "debate" on charcoal with the following conclusions : - There is no evidence of positive effects of biochar (and commercial AMF-products) on trees or forests other then planted for commercial wood (timber) or charcoal production. - There is no research at all on the effects of biochar on the soil food webs of tree species specific and (natural) forest ecosystems mainly depending on ectomycorrhizal symbionts. - How can Quercus, Fagus, Betula, Populus, Salix, Alnus, Tilia, Carpinus, Castanea, Corylus, Pinus, Picea, Abies, Larix and Pseudotsuga, all of them being partners of ectomycorrhizal symbiotic macrofungi, profit from commercial AMF-products (and charcoal) ? ---

Inspired by David's unidentifiable beetles, one of the most common fungi consuming species, Mycetophagus quadripustulatus (what's in a name : I like munching fungi and have four (orange) pustules ), is presented, this time living in/on a bracket of Daedaleopsis confragosa, fruiting on the trunk of a fallen birch. ---