Fall is approaching and this is the time of year when an abundance of fungi can be observed in the forest at Long Lake Park. Fungi are present all year round but we see them more frequently at this time of year because they produce more of their above-ground reproductive structures in summer and fall.
The main body of all forest fungi consists of very fine threads that can only be seen with a microscope, but when they reproduce some fungi produce relatively large structures which are popularly known as mushrooms, toadstools, and so on. Biologists call these large structures ‘basidiocarps’.
Fungi are extremely diverse. There are estimated to be between 2 and 4 million species of fungi in the world and experts describe more than a thousand new species every year. Many are useful, such as edible mushrooms and yeasts for baking and brewing.
Most of our antibiotics are produced by fungi. Penicillin, for example, is derived from one of the moulds that grow on bread. In the forest, antibiotics kill off bacteria in the soil and improve access to nutrients (such as dead leaves) for the fungi that produce the antibiotics. Less competition from bacteria means more food for the fungus!
Many fungi reproduce by producing tiny spores in vast numbers from their reproductive structures. The spores are so small that they can be carried in the wind over great distances, easily travelling from one continent to another.
Fungi are essential for life because they are champions of recycling. Some fungi eat living things but most feast on left-overs, such as fallen leaves and dead tree trunks.
While mushroom-like reproductive structures are the most familiar fungal form, many other types of reproductive structures of fungi can be found in the forest at Long Lake Park, such as the bright yellow basidiocarps of a clavarioid fungus shown below.
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