MUSHROOM ECOLOGY

[qualia]

further to my previous ramblings, i'd like to know,

what people think in terms of fungus and ecology,

it strikes me as something people don't ordinarily talk about,

but i read on here recently, in regard to these

rare mushrooms

how is the fungal conservation?

how is the fungal conservation in australia?

in the world?

do people care, as much about myco-conservation as they

do with plant life?

[obtuse]

It appears to me that fungi are still a very understudied subject.

there seems to be a lot of info on macroscopic fungi, ie from a curiosity point of view, and most conversations i have had with acedemics lead in the direction of research re cultivation of fungi.

i think the ecology and moreso the preservation of species is a fairly new concept. but fortunately the concept has had some airtime of late. A lecture i attended recently brought the importance of fungi for plant growth and that traditional / and especially modern farming techniques tend to damage or destroy the existing fungal networks within the soil. Some people are very keen on defending the old techniques, although appreciate the damage that modern chemicals cause, and find the idea of maintaing the fungal networks very foreign.

i for one am very interested in understandign fungal ecology and learnign how to help others adapt to it. while this is already happening within permaculture, there are some many other people who dont appreciate just how important it may be in the years of climate change ahead of us.

I would also love to see industries like forestry also review the damage they do to to the fungal networks when they clear and then burn the land they use for their plantations.

anyway, definitely stuff to think about, and im sure there will be room for research in this field in the future. The only problem is getting the funding.

Cheers, Obtuse.

[Undergrounder]

further to my previous ramblings, i'd like to know,

what people think in terms of fungus and ecology,

it strikes me as something people don't ordinarily talk about,

but i read on here recently, in regard to these

rare mushrooms

how is the fungal conservation?

how is the fungal conservation in australia?

in the world?

do people care, as much about myco-conservation as they

do with plant life?

 

I believe they do care, as the mushrooms in that thread are the reason that particular area was listed for conservation status recently. I think it's technically the same with all conservation - If an area has rare or endangered species of any kind (plant, animal or fungi), it can be listed for protection. I think the same applies for the Rhizanthella slateri, where a road is planned to go through that bit of bush. As a result there has been a lot of media about it and people opposed to it.

But its much harder to list and describe fungal populations than it is plants. For the simple reason that fungi are virtually invisible for 95% of their yearly cycle. Fungimap is one such attempt, and I think the CSIRO does some research in the field too. So we may just know a lot less about how common/rare some fungi are.

[Sola]

It's true there needs to be a lot more research done in this field, there has been some but there are undoubtedly species as yet unidentified.

Their role in ecosystems is equally little understood, near here it is evident, farmers nearby that crop and graze their paddicks have them go dry

while ours that are left in a more natural state are still green for a lot longer into the hot and dry summers. I think part of the reason this is the

case is the mycelial networks under the soil but this would have to be confirmed through research.

Anytime the soil is disturbed or the flora is removed, there is a high probability that mycelium will be damaged and as this has occurred over most of Australia I would guess we have lost many species already .

Edited May 6, 2011 by Sola

[Magicdirt]

!

Edited May 8, 2011 by Magicdirt