What A Difference A Day Makes!

Day 234: How does that old song go? "What a difference a day makes! 24 little hours..." When you're a specimen of Tubifera ferruginosa (Raspberry Tube slime mold), this is the time frame for your reproductive phase. Once Tubifera had depleted the tasty bacterial food source on this rotten log, it began to sporulate. Its plasmodium extended sporocarps, closely packed together to form the pinkish-orange mounds we filmed on Wednesday. Within 24 hours, many of the aethalia had ripened and had turned black, indicating that they were ready to release their spores. These photos show the difference, and emphasize the great good fortune the film crew had in being in the right place at the right time. In another few days, Tubifera will have literally gone to dust, its days as a film star over.

Slime Mold Hunters

Day 233: The Oregon Field Guide team called it a wrap late yesterday afternoon after a full day of searching for slime molds in a half-mile stretch of trailless woods. Here, cinematographer Stephanie focuses a Probe lens on a colony of Tubifera ferruginosa while producer Ian checks her framing of the shot. We were able to add three more species to the documentary: Tubifera ferruginosa (the orange patches in the lower right of the image), Arcyria denudata and Trichia decipiens, the latter two also new to the species inventory of this property. We also found many more examples of Lycogala epidendrum and Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa. Our total of five species was more than I'd expected, and I don't know who was more delighted when both members of the crew made their own discoveries unassisted by me. Ian was a little disappointed that we failed to find the infamous and fairly common Fuligo septica. "I never thought I'd hear myself say this," he told me, laughing. "I really wanted to find Dog-vomit."

Ceratiomyxa's Starring Role

Day 232: Yesterday marked the first day that I worked with the film crew from Oregon Field Guide for a segment featuring slime molds. I was rather concerned that the stars of the show would fail to appear, because only last Friday, I went on a concerted search for slimes in the area and found nothing but a collapsed colony of Lycogala epidendrum. It didn't bode well. When I arrived at our meeting location, the cinematographer (Stephanie) was already there and had begun getting her gear out. I took advantage of the time we had before Ian was due to arrive to explore the immediate area, and was delighted when I found a large patch of Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa var. poroides, perhaps my favourite of all slime molds. I reported back to Stephanie that the team wouldn't have to return to Portland skunked. After Ian arrived, they moved their gear to the site and we began filming. I seized a moment while Stephanie was using a Probe lens to capture this photo of her and Ceratiomyxa. We found a small grouping of Lycogala nearby, providing a second species for the documentary. Later in the day, we picked a quiet spot in the woods for the "interview" portion of the segment where Ian and Stephanie both grilled me with questions about slime molds and my interest in them. Today, we resume our search in a different spot. Wish us luck!