Humongous Fungus (Underground and All Around)

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From tiny microbes to the largest living thing, fungi are everywhere! Without fungi, our ecosystem would not work. It provides food for plants and animals and creates a place for them to live. But beware, some types of fungi can destroy crops through fungal diseases or even change animals’ behavior. This fascinating foraging book for kids is sure to keep little ones engaged and entertained! Not quite animals and not quite plants, the mysterious kingdom of fungi is full of secrets! Let’s unearth them together with this weird and wonderful book about mushrooms. Myron Smith was a PhD candidate in botany at the University of Toronto when he and colleagues discovered this exclusive fungus in the hardwood forests near Crystal Falls. "This was kind of a side project," Smith recalls. "We were looking at the boundaries of [fungal] individuals using genetic tests and the first year we didn't find the edge." Ironically, the discovery of such huge fungi specimens rekindled the debate of what constitutes an individual organism. "It's one set of genetically identical cells that are in communication with one another that have a sort of common purpose or at least can coordinate themselves to do something," Volk explains. There’re mighty killers that could wipe out an entire crop, but there’s also eco-friendly fungi like the one discovered in 2017 to be able to break down plastic.

Humongous Fungus: The Largest Living Thing on Earth Humongous Fungus: The Largest Living Thing on Earth

This book explores the amazing and diverse world of fungi, mushrooms, mould on land and in the water. A combination of good genes and a stable environment has allowed this particularly ginormous fungus to continue its creeping existence over the past millennia. "These are very strange organisms to our anthropocentric way of thinking," says biochemist Myron Smith of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. An Armillaria individual consists of a network of hyphae, he explains. "Collectively, this network is called the mycelium and is of an indefinite shape and size." Embark on a magical tour of the forest floor and discover one of the most fascinating living organisms on this planet – fungi!People had ideas that maybe they were big but nobody had any idea they were that big," says Tom Volk, a biology professor at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. "Well it's certainly the biggest publicity that mycology is going to get—maybe ever."

Humongous Fungus (Underground and All Around) - Goodreads

And, at second glance, even those button mushrooms aren't so tiny. A large mushroom farm can produce as much as one million pounds (454 metric tons) of them in a year. "The mushrooms that people grow in the mushroom houses&133;; they're nearly genetically identical from one grower to another," Smith says. "So in a large mushroom-growing facility that would be a genetic individual—and it's massive!" A team of forestry scientists discovered the giant after setting out to map the population of this pathogenic fungus in eastern Oregon. The team paired fungal samples in petri dishes to see if they fused ( see photo below), a sign that they were from the same genetic individual, and used DNA fingerprinting to determine where one individual fungus ended.All fungi in the Armillaria genus are known as honey mushrooms, for the yellow-capped and sweet fruiting bodies they produce. Some varieties share this penchant for monstrosity but are more benign in nature. In fact the very first massive fungus discovered in 1992—a 37-acre (15-hectare) Armillaria bulbosa, which was later renamed Armillaria gallica—is annually celebrated at a "fungus fest" in the nearby town of Crystal Falls, Mich. This book of fabulous fungi will intrigue and amaze young readers, and open their eyes to the fungi thriving all around them. The vast fungus kingdom has an estimated four million species — ten times more than plants and 600 times more than mammals.

Humongous Fungus - AbeBooks Humongous Fungus - AbeBooks

Lots to know and think about, not just for our young readers but anybody wanting a good look at the humongous job that fungus do in our lives. Their beautiful mushrooms come in all colours, shapes, and sizes. Fungal stories include the greening of the Earth, when fungi helped plants first grow on land, and the mass destruction of crops through fungal disease. From the villains of the upcoming bananageddon to plastic-eating eco-warriors, there are over 1.5 million known fungus species, and a huge, unknown number of unnamed "dark" types. Some are even found inside animals - helpful fungi break down food in animal guts, but others take over their hosts' bodies. Embark on a magical tour of the forest floor and discover one of the most fascinating living organisms on this planet - fungi! You know those mushroom rings 🍄🍄🍄 in folklore that say they’re formed by fairies dancing in a circle? They exist! (The rings at least 😆)

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This one, A. ostoyae, causes Armillaria root disease, which kills swaths of conifers in many parts of the U.S. and Canada. The fungus primarily grows along tree roots via hyphae, fine filaments that mat together and excrete digestive enzymes. But Armillaria has the unique ability to extend rhizomorphs, flat shoestringlike structures, that bridge gaps between food sources and expand the fungus's sweeping perimeter ever more. There’re also the “bad guys”, or rather they face the same survival battle for the fittest in nature with the most creative weapons.

Happy Magic Forest: The Humongous Fungus - Oxford Owl Super Happy Magic Forest: The Humongous Fungus - Oxford Owl

They’re every plant and animal’s teammate, when there’s a job to be done such as a “food swap” between fungus and plant, or simply some help with survival.From tiny microbes to the largest living thing, fungi are everywhere! Without fungi, our ecosystem would not work. It provides food for plants and animals and creates a place for them to live. But beware, some types of fungi can destroy crops through fungal diseases or even change animals' behavior. This fascinating foraging book for kids is sure to keep little ones engaged and entertained! Not quite animals and not quite plants, the mysterious kingdom of fungi is full of secrets! Let's unearth them together with this weird and wonderful book about mushrooms.