Fun Fungi Ecology

The hidden links in the ecosystem

The Mycelium

I am delighted to say that on Friday 15 March 2019 in Innisfail we will be launching our ‘Australian Tropical Mushrooms & other Fungi pocket guides’. The launch is being hosted by the Johnstone Ecological Society and Queensland Mycological Society. A number of events are being held in the region […]

Tropical Fungi Fun

March 11, 2019 in Projects tagged Cookeina tricholoma / Slime mould / Stinkhorns / Tropical by myco

I haven’t got out of the urban areas as much as I might have liked but I am reminded that life ticks away here too. Dog walking gets me out and about, and they are used to me stopping, observing, photographing and recording! On mown areas like ovals the last […]

Slimy mouldy lawns

January 24, 2019 in Slime Moulds tagged Physarum cinereum / Slime mould / Urban fungi by myco

Creek relief Was reflecting on the connections between water, plants, rain and fungi this morning as I walked down my local creek the Merri. Many of the plants particularly the grasses and reeds (phragmites) were glistening with water droplets. This weeks rain, translated as dew in the cooler creek line. […]

Creek relief

January 13, 2019 in Ideas tagged Acacia / Common Reed (Phragmites australis) / Macrofungi / Merri Creek / Moss / Redshank (Ceratodon purpureus) / Urban fungi by myco

Urban suspects This might be the last wet week of ‘Sprummer’ in Southern Mainland Australia. I have been observing and recording the ‘Summer’ fruiting of many mushrooms, puffballs and slime moulds many of the common ‘urban fungi’ including Yellow Fieldcap (Bolbitius titubans), Pleated Inkcap (Parasola plicatilis), Fairy Ring Marasmius (Marasmius […]

Urban suspects

January 9, 2019 in Updates tagged Agaricus / Agrocybe / Fairy Ring Marasmius (Marasmius oreades) / Giant Pasture Puffball (Mycenastrum corium) / Pleated Inkcap (Parasola plicatilis) / Urban fungi / Yellow Fieldcap (Bolbitius titubans) by myco

Rickenella fibula or as it is sometimes known Orange Mosscap is a known associate of various mosses. Molecular research is divulging more about the amazing relationships fungi have with other species. Recent research by Hailee Brynn Korotkin in the Matheny lab has shown that these diminutive fungi spend their life […]

Orange Mosscap partners moss

December 26, 2018 in Macrofungi tagged Endophyte / Moss / Rickenella fibula by myco

Endophytes help with drought tolerance and disease resistance. Their name comes from endo meaning inside and phyte meaning plant, this is where they spend most of their lives. Once their plant partner dies they revert to a saprotrophic lifestyle and reproduce, often on rotten logs on the forest floor where their […]

Endophytes fight drought

December 24, 2018 in Updates tagged Cookeina tricholoma / Discomycete / Endophyte / Tropical by myco

The ‘Space Alien Fungus’ as it is sometimes described is the Anemone Stinkhorn (Aseroe rubra), other common names include sea anemone fungus and starfish fungus. It was the first Australian native fungus formally named. Collected from southern Tasmanian during the La Pérouse expedition by the French Botanist Labillardière in 1792 and described in 1800. Stinkhorns are […]

Aseroe rubra

December 20, 2018 in Macrofungi tagged Aseroe rubra / space aliens / Stinkhorns by myco