Day 270: As a lichenologist, I spend a lot of time looking at rotten stumps, broken branches and unattractive rock outcrops. I find it amazing that slime molds escaped my notice until a few years ago when I stumbled across my first specimens of Lycogala epidendrum. Its pink bubble-gum mounds were the gateway to yet another rabbit hole begging me to enter and, like Alice, I tumbled into a bizarre world populated with some of the oddest creatures I had ever seen. During voluntary isolation, I have been exploring the woods near my home in minuscule detail in the hopes of discovering vascular plants or lichens not previously recorded in the area. Not many botanists get an opportunity for intense field study such as this, to be able to spend as much time as possible in a relatively small geographic area. While exploring one particular section of no more than 1500' sq. ft., I have found four slime mold species and a handful of relatively uncommon fungi which do not seem to appear anywhere else except in that particular microecology. Among them is Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, a slime mold one might easily mistake for a fungus on first glance. What is it about this location? Is it that there is more moisture here, or that certain plant species are present? Is it because when fire swept the area it burned more or less intensely at this small spot? Was the detritus of the old forest more rich in hemlock or cedar, perhaps providing a unique chemistry which draws the slime molds to it? Why are they here? What do they want? I will probably never have answers, but as the questions arise, they feed and nourish my curiosity. One must have questions, else why bother getting out of bed?
No comments:
Post a Comment