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Rehabilitation project

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I am posting this in the hope of receiving feedback, comments or any input really.

 

Ok so a little background. I am in the process of rehabilitating a site in Seq that has been logged & flogged for decades, with more than its fair share of weeds. This is being done as a mosaic of small patches, largely because of the steep grade & the need to continue grazing animals on the site.

The site appears to have relatively few fungi compared to other sites with similar habitats nearby. So we have been

(re)introducing a variety of fungi from the local area to each patch as we go with mixed results.

The site is heavily contaminated with glyphosate with a near constant influx continuing to come down the hill from the neighbouring property, I'm wondering how much of an effect on the fungal fauna this is having? 

 

So, to the project. I'm thinking if i select a number of likely candidates starting with Lepista sp. Agaricus spp. Calvatia sp, Ganoderma sp. from locations where glyphosate has been regularly used & breed from these individuals. If each subsequent generation is fed a media with slightly higher glyphosate concentrations. What is the likelihood that i will either breed either glyphosate resistant mushrooms? Or mushrooms that can

metabolize the glyphosate and actively seek it out?

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Don't know the answer but super keen to hear any results! Good luck!

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Cool project :)

 

1 hour ago, shortly said:

I am posting this in the hope of receiving feedback, comments or any input really.

 

Ok so a little background. I am in the process of rehabilitating a site in Seq that has been logged & flogged for decades,

 

So, to the project. I'm thinking if i select a number of likely candidates starting with Lepista sp. Agaricus spp. Calvatia sp, Ganoderma sp. from locations where glyphosate has been regularly used & breed from these individuals. If each subsequent generation is fed a media with slightly higher glyphosate concentrations. What is the likelihood that i will either breed either glyphosate resistant mushrooms? Or mushrooms that can

metabolize the glyphosate and actively seek it out?

 

What level of detail are you looking at wrt glyphosate monitoring? Are you doing actual chem analysis? Or looking at results on petries and extrapolating?

 

Yes, selective transfers up a concentration gradient over time could give you what you are looking for on a macro level wrt a single compound, but they may not play out so well when competing with other organisms ex vitro.

 

Quote

The site appears to have relatively few fungi compared to other sites with similar habitats nearby. So we have been

(re)introducing a variety of fungi from the local area to each patch as we go with mixed results.

 

 

How are you determining results? How long has your rehab project been running? If you're determining results from visible fruiting over one or two seasons only, or in comparison to uncontaminated control areas over a year or two only you'll get very different results than if you were, say, monitoring for fungal colonisation of your target species in inoculated mulch.

 

Are you running several patches, each with different treatments, against an uncontaminated control patch? Are you monitoring for an increased fungal diversity overall as a measure of rehab success?

 

Determining which measurements accurately reflects the results you're chasing is best established early on.

 

Apologies for sounding brusque, I get like that when something catches my attention :) PM'd you.

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The tl;dr version of this is:

 

Why are you concentrating on macrofungi so early on?

 

Personally I'd monitor your control area soil micro-organism health and contaminant levels vs your rehab patches at +0 days baseline.

 

Then throw some micro-organisms onto different patches. Recheck at different time points. Take photos, notice any vegetation changes in transect grids.

 

Soil Food Web people at http://soilfoodweb.com.au can assist with monitoring, tho their focus is largely agricultural. Their analysis should give you some good ideas as to what's missing.

 

Contaminant monitoring can be done at EAL Lismore for a reasonable cost. http://scu.edu.au/eal/

 

Nutri-tech have some cool micro-organism products, if it's specifically native regen you're looking at you might be able to talk with their technical team. If you have baseline readings for soild diversity and contam levels they will have a better idea of what they're addressing  http://www.nutri-tech.com.au

 

A blend of micro-organisms is more likely to be adaptable than a single macrofungus- they will self select. Macro species can be added alongside, at any time point.

 

Fruiting macrofungus of various species are a good environmental health indicator overall. But they are notoriously unreliable in their appearance and you'd be wanting data taken over years IMO

 

 

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I think Darklight has the idea, you want to distribute your remediation efforts over many microorganisms. I'd recommend a proper soil test at a couple of sites. Though this maybe costly not sure. If you want to just stick with trying mushrooms out then for your glyphosate troubles you may find the following interesting:

 

Phosphorylated compounds such as the chemical warfare gases and many organophosphate pesticides have proven particularly resistant to breakdown and bioremediation, as few organisms are equipped with the appropriate dephosphorylating enzymes. Fungi, on the other hand, have a number of enzyme systems and paths for dealing with phosphorylated compounds and are therefore particularly suited for remediation of organophosphates. Preferred species include polypore fungi such as Trametes versicolor, Fomes fomentarius, Fomitopsis officinalis, Fomitopsis pinicola, Phellinus igniarius, Phellinus linteus and the other polypores listed below, agarics such as Psilocybe azurescens and Psilocybe cyanescens containing phosphorylated tryptamine compounds and their dephosphorylated analogs, luminescent fungi utilizing adenosine triphosphate, luciferin and luciferase for bioluminescence, and other phosphorus-rich mushroom fungi such as Agrocybe arvalis, Collybia (C. tuberosa and C. albuminosa), Coprinus comatus, Lycoperdon perlatum and L. lilacinum, Pleurotus species, esp. P. ostreatus and P. tuberregium and Psathyrella, i.e. P. hydrophila. Combinations may be preferred in certain applications as bringing a broad range of phosphorus related enzymes to bear.

 

 

Source:

http://www.google.com/patents/US20040211721

 

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11 hours ago, Darklight said:

Cool project :)

 

 

What level of detail are you looking at wrt glyphosate monitoring? Are you doing actual chem analysis? Or looking at results on petries and extrapolating?

 

I am hoping to interest a student or to to pick up on this as part of a study project. Possibly in conjunction with differences in fungal populations after the addition of biochar? Largely because of time & the cost, the property is not a going concern at this point. So there is nil cash flow to pay for it.

 

Yes, selective transfers up a concentration gradient over time could give you what you are looking for on a macro level wrt a single compound, but they may not play out so well when competing with other organisms ex vitro.

 

Good point. I may be better off including a brew of mixed soil organisms to the bulk grows once they approach full colonization? I'm intending on spawning into pasteurized media in 6 X 250L water troughs in a tunnel house full of allsorts, so keeping things even remotely sterile isnt an option.

 

How are you determining results? How long has your rehab project been running? If you're determining results from visible fruiting over one or two seasons only, or in comparison to uncontaminated control areas over a year or two only you'll get very different results than if you were, say, monitoring for fungal colonisation of your target species in inoculated mulch.

 

Results will initially be determined by the mycelium surviving long enough to get spawned out. The idea is to contaminate the media for each successive generation with higher & higher concentrations. Crude i know.

The Rehab project as a whole has been running for 5 months, although the penny only dropped a fortnight ago just how bad the contamination on the site is. I noticed that king oysters refuse to grow on lantana from the 2/3rds of the property that drains the eastern neighbour. While it cranks on lantana from the third on the opposite side of the gully. I spoke to the eastern neighbour who informed me that he sprays on average 120L-150L of roundup a year on his 4Ha.

 

Are you running several patches, each with different treatments, against an uncontaminated control patch? Are you monitoring for an increased fungal diversity overall as a measure of rehab success?

 

Yes, 2 of the troughs will be keep as controls. Plus I'm hoping to have enough spore from each generation to spread siblings about on the un/less contaminated side. As well as on part of the western neighbours block. Not in controlled conditions

 

11 hours ago, Darklight said:

Determining which measurements accurately reflects the results you're chasing is best established early on.

 

Apologies for sounding brusque, I get like that when something catches my attention :) PM'd you.

 

No problem, all input gratefully accepted :)

 

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10 hours ago, Darklight said:

The tl;dr version of this is:

 

Why are you concentrating on macrofungi so early on?

Simply because i'm not set up to play with the tiny guys. And i already have a few macro fungi that i'm playing around with.

I do have a fermenter full of soil organisms running that i have been using to inoculate the biochar beds when i disturb everything tilling in the biochar. However i only have the one at this stage, so i'm not overly keen to start contaminating that to try to force a response to glyphosate.

Personally I'd monitor your control area soil micro-organism health and contaminant levels vs your rehab patches at +0 days baseline.

 

Then throw some micro-organisms onto different patches. Recheck at different time points. Take photos, notice any vegetation changes in transect grids.

 

Soil Food Web people at http://soilfoodweb.com.au can assist with monitoring, tho their focus is largely agricultural. Their analysis should give you some good ideas as to what's missing.

This site is being rehabilitated more as a working garden than anything resembling "natural" bushland, so kinda close'ish to agriculture.

Contaminant monitoring can be done at EAL Lismore for a reasonable cost. http://scu.edu.au/eal/

 

Nutri-tech have some cool micro-organism products, if it's specifically native regen you're looking at you might be able to talk with their technical team. If you have baseline readings for soild diversity and contam levels they will have a better idea of what they're addressing  http://www.nutri-tech.com.au

 

A blend of micro-organisms is more likely to be adaptable than a single macrofungus- they will self select. Macro species can be added alongside, at any time point.

 

Fruiting macrofungus of various species are a good environmental health indicator overall. But they are notoriously unreliable in their appearance and you'd be wanting data taken over years IMO

 

 

 

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How are you getting glypho from upslope Shortly?

 

Surface runoff, soil water/subsurface, drift/dust?  

If its surface runoff the first thing that came to mind was the "burlap bag spawn/bunker spawn" concept that Stamets raises in Mycellium Running. Set up check dams for diffuse/sheet flow or runoff filter pack for a more concentrated flow.

 

I'm not sure what  candidate would be a good start re glypho. They are typically used for coliform/nutrient treatment from farmland.

 

burlap.jpg

 

Stacks.jpg

 

I reckon you can find something that will metabolise, doubt anything will go preferential but if its in its patch it will set enzymes onto it.

 

May not be suitable, but thought its worth raising:wink:

Edited by waterboy 2.0
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Depending on the setup that bunker spawn bed could do the trick at restricting the flow of more glyphosate coming onto the property waterboy. 

 

To train a strain to consume a toxin like the glyphosate lantana I would start off with cultures on agar plates and do what you said re feeding higher and higher concentrations of glyphosate. Start by growing your strain on a regular agar plate and put a small bit of paper soaked in glyphosate on the agar medium. Clone and do it again with larger bit of paper, then eventually when your ready add glyphosate to agar medium. Eventually the mycelium breaks down the toxin no worries. This is how radical mycology managed to get oysters to break down cigarette butts. I have their new book and they show experiments on exactly this line of work (breaking down glyphosate).

 

Its a real shame growing Psilocybe sp. is illegal in Australia in this case because as they metabolise psilocybin they have enzymes to extract phosphorous from their environment and to me would be a great candidate for breaking down Glyphosate. Any mushroom high in phosphorous will likely do the trick though so maybe just give Oysters a go.

 

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I use to conduct contam assessment and rehab. My first thoughts are always how to stop the influx of contaminants:wink:

Also constructed some pretty sizable biofilters.

 

I've used a similar concept with "clean" compost/biochar and zeolite to adsorb some novel pollutants.

When I can formulate my thoughts and appears to be of use to old mate shortly I'll tap it.

 

 

Edited by waterboy 2.0
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I might have my wires crossed here but you seem to have taken offence to what I've written. I'm sorry I really meant no offence mate, I was actually agreeing with you that it was a good idea. I can see how you might take offence to it and I guess that's the trouble with communicating by text. With all your remediation experience you'd have more experience than I.

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No mate, no offense taken at all:wink:

 

I'm blunt....lol...theres nothing to it.

 

Any site I've have to rehab always has that thought of can't start cleaning until you

stop the influx. I'm on a left of centre tangent...lol...as usual

 

EDIT - I also sarcastic at times, but theres none of that going on.

Edited by waterboy 2.0
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With all your remediation experience you'd have more experience than I.

 

I'll add, don't sell yourself short mate:wink: Your posts have fired off some other thoughts.

I'm hoping to learn some more.

Edited by waterboy 2.0
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22 hours ago, waterboy 2.0 said:

How are you getting glypho from upslope Shortly?

 

Surface runoff, soil water/subsurface, drift/dust? 

 

Probably all of the above, the site is usually as dry as a drovers dog and quite steep. Just sand & dust, until it rains. And then its only wet for a few hours.

Heavy rain (which is becoming the norm :( )sees a LOT of erosion. But i do suspect that most of the water is moving through the soil profile. Which for the most part is quite shallow. About 0.6m to decomposing sandstone at the top of the block. And more than 1.8m near the bottom. 800m apart. And yes i probably should drill a few holes to see just howmuch soil i have to work with, just lacking motivation at present.

 

 

22 hours ago, waterboy 2.0 said:

If its surface runoff the first thing that came to mind was the "burlap bag spawn/bunker spawn" concept that Stamets raises in Mycellium Running. Set up check dams for diffuse/sheet flow or runoff filter pack for a more concentrated flow.

 

I'm not sure what  candidate would be a good start re glypho. They are typically used for coliform/nutrient treatment from farmland.

 

burlap.jpg

 

Stacks.jpg

 

I reckon you can find something that will metabolise, doubt anything will go preferential but if its in its patch it will set enzymes onto it.

 

I've actually started doing something similar with biochar, compost, soil mix already. Small curved hillocks of bags with a couple of trees or shrubs planted with each one. Mostly to stop the sand migrating into the dam when it rains. I've been asked why i've been making smiley faces across the camel paddocks lols.

I never expected to find anything that would prefer glyphosate, however the site is so so very poor. Decomposed sandstone with 2/5ths of F'all organic matter. I am hoping that something will find a metabolic use for it, in lieu of other resources. Which are like hens teeth on this site. 

 

May not be suitable, but thought its worth raising:wink:

 

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15 hours ago, waterboy 2.0 said:

Any site I've have to rehab always has that thought of can't start cleaning until you

stop the influx. I'm on a left of centre tangent...lol...as usual

 

I've already T'd up the neighbour to take his lantana for fuel for the syngas steam weeder i'm in the process of building. I dont know that it will stop him using herbicides but it should slow him down?

Dunno what else i can do with such steep sandy soil, other than stop it goin on the upper slope to start with?

 

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16 hours ago, Shamanistic said:

Its a real shame growing Psilocybe sp. is illegal in Australia in this case because as they metabolise psilocybin they have enzymes to extract phosphorous from their environment and to me would be a great candidate for breaking down Glyphosate. Any mushroom high in phosphorous will likely do the trick though so maybe just give Oysters a go.

 

Psilocybe sp are already endemic onsite, cows & horses all around. They have even popped up in an alpacca poop pile. Just not on the offending side, although that is the dryer side. I might move a few loads of poop into the erosion control ditches :)

The oysters seem to objecting to it though, might take a bit to get them used to it i suspect? Or just find another strain to start with? I probably need to asses which spp prefer the site & work with them.

 

 

Edited by shortly
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*scratches head*   lol...you make me think too hard....I like it.

 I wasnt expecting you to dig/auger holes:lol: But yeah...lol...I like to see profiles.

I was kinda hoping it wasnt going  subsoil...or if it was it would "behave" and go deep.

 

yep sounds defo like its primarily flow  through the soil profile offsite to subsoil water flowing onsite/through site (thats a bastard of a scenario in sands with poor adsorption).  Attempting an "enriched cutoff trench" upslope could be risky, breaking the ground open to lead to some tragic erosion. It would be shallow enough to work with, but it'd take some material which would need replenishing(= pain in arse). The hydraulic gradient is not helping matters.

 

Spraying/drench compost/micro brews on the more noticable affected areas may be of great benefit though? At least it would pass down through the profile and help with innoculating the sites. Persistance may be an issue though, but might be enough to get areas to a better state for further myco colonisation.

 

May just need to be get the satellite spots creating some organics and expand out? You are gunna need more organics one way or another:wink: A lot of bacteria will give glyphosate a go, but usually rhizosphere and organic matter asscoiated in the topsoil.

 

Getting a neighbour to come on board to reduce the usage IS a great start:wink: Less in the system = less to become mobile. Thats actually pretty damn crafty mate, I salute you with a nod.

 

Two thumbs up for the smiley faces...lol:lol: keeps the camels happy....lol

Biochar/compost filters are great, I just cannot recomend them enough. Zeolite, coir and perlite can be good ammendments for some targets.

 

*scratches head* I'll keep mulling over it, its a tough one mate

augering holes at the top of the slope and infilling with adsorbing materials?? I'll keep thinking this one over... similar to using lime for land stability

 

 

Edited by waterboy 2.0
shit formating

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