One Big Happy Myrio Family

Day 255: A run into the Park at this point in terms of snow-melt would not have been complete without a visit to (mumble) to check on Myriosclerotinia caricis-ampullaceae. While I am no longer overly concerned with the health and safety of this rare fungus after having found a super-abundance of it at another location within the Park boundaries, it is nice to see it alive and well at the site where my botany partners and I first found it. We have now mapped at least half a dozen areas where it occurs, some well-populated and others sparse. Knowing that it grows only on a few types of sedge has helped narrow our searches. At this location which we refer to as "Site A" (the only one currently snow-free), I found 40-60 cups on Wednesday. The largest two were approximately 15 mm in diameter.

That Famous Fungus

Day 227: Team Biota took to the field today, checking on a few of our favourite rare species. Joe had gone alone to Myriosclerotinia caricis-ampullaceae "Site A" last week and reported a few small cups. Today, we found 50-60, the largest of which measured 11 mm. in diameter. None of the other known sites is snow-free, and even at Site A, meltwater is flowing too deeply through much of the sedge for the cups to have emerged. We will be watching this site very closely for this world-wide rarity over the next two weeks! As soon as our primary site opens up, we will begin a five-year observation to determine if the parasitic fungus is affecting sedge growth and development. Myrio was just one of several rare species we checked up on today, so stay tuned!

Rare Abundance

Day 253: The count of "noses" has now passed the century mark at Site A, as many as 14 specimens of Myriosclerotinia caricis-ampullaceae occuring in a single tight grouping. Out of concern for the species, our trips into the area will be restricted to no more than once a week. These excursions will be limited to as few members of the team as is reasonable to allow study of the progression of growth and to monitor the survival rate. Already we have noted that many of the smaller specimens have disappeared, leaving no clues to their fate behind them. Were they eaten by something? If so, what? Or did they disperse their spores and deteriorate rapidly as part of the reproductive process? Some cups are growing, and although none yet matches the size of the larger examples from our observations in 2016, several seem well on their way. Site B is as yet unobtainable, but I am anxious to see if it also produces an abundance of this rarity.

An Historic Day

Day 243: You see before you the portrait and moment of scientific discovery. Yesterday was an historic day. Team Biota isolated a heretofore unrecorded host Carex (sedge) for our rare friend, Myriosclerotinia caricis-ampullaceae.

So momentous was this discovery that we made a trip out to a point where we could contact Plant Ecologist Arnie Peterson by phone. When he answered, I announced without preamble, "We've got the sedge!" He immediately dropped what he was doing and drove an hour to meet us at the site. Ankle-deep in snowmelt water and under a penetrating rain, Arnie and I obtained three juvenile specimens from the 42 inventoried on this trip, a painful but necessary sacrifice in the name of science. One was preserved with the Carex still attached, and the fungus' tell-tale knobby and diagnostic sclerotium visible.

Arnie was unable to identify the specific Carex in the field, but of the known hosts for Myrio, only one occurs in the Park. That host does not grow at this site. In and of itself, Myrio was a signal discovery; documenting it on a new host is emphatically more significant.

I am enormously grateful to my companions in Team Biota Joe and Sharon Dreimiller for their field-work in inventorying Myrio despite the unfavourable weather, and for providing this photo of a couple of soggy but very happy scientists.