“We are bathed in a soup of these procreative morels and inhale the biosphere with every breath. If that doesn’t make you reach for your nasal spray, consider that each mushroom that elbows itself from the ground sheds hundreds of millions, even trillions, of microscopic spores” (Mushroom, page 2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thinking about the amount of spores that have been released is crazy. I think I might take spore prints of my gourmet mushrooms as they begin to fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The pattern resembles the veins in a leaf, or the blood vessels in an animal.”(Mushroom, pg 9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love that they try to compare the mycelium structure to blood vessels and veins in a leaf. it really signifies the start to life and life in general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Classified on the basis of their composition, there are two main groups of culture media: natural media, which contain infusions of natural substances the chemical composition of which varies from time to time, and synthetic media which contain ingredients of known chemical composition. Natural media cannot be duplicated exactly; synthetic media, on the contrary, can be duplicated with a high degree of accuracy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main groups of culture media is very interesting to study. Nothing can totally make the natural media the same exact way its grown in a lab. I wonder how close they’ve gotten though?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
” Mushrooms have played pivotal roles in ancient Greece, India and Mesoamerica. True to their beguiling nature, fungi have always elicited deep emotional responses: from adulation by those who understand them to outright fear by those who do not. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I absolutely thrive when I learn about the history of mushrooms and how civilizations used them for things such as medicine, jewelry, and things like that. Ceremonies that take place in ancient civilizations that’s are still practiced in remote parts of the world is so fascinating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Organisms in the plant kingdom which are of relatively simple structure, which have no sterns, roots, or leaves, and which generally reproduce by spores are often referred to as thallophytes. In the older text books these organisms were all placed in the Division Thallophyta, but modern taxonomists no longer recognize this grouping. Instead, we now place these organisms into a large number of divisions. Some of these organisms posses s chlorophyll; these are classified in the various divisions of algae. Others — the achlorophyllous thallophytes — do not have any chlorophyll; these we shall classify into two divisions, the Schizornycota (bacteria) and the Mycota (fungi, including the true slime molds). “<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wow wow wow, the different structures in the thallophyta are so interesting to learn about as well as the organisms that live in them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The resident mushroom mycelium in- creases the plant’s absorption of nutrients, nitrogenous compounds, and essential ele- ments (phosphorus, copper and zinc). By growing beyond the immediate root zone, the mycelium channels and concentrates nutri- ents from afar. Plants with mycorrhizal fungal partners can also resist diseases far better than those without.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only rooting system a mushroom has is the mycelium it grows in. The structure of mycelium is beyond anything people can really understand. We are now finding out that mycelium can be used to create things such as biodegradable packaging, meatless meat, and structures such as buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Mushrooms grown in polluted environments can absorb toxins directly into their tissues. As a result, mushrooms grown in these environments should not be eaten. Recently, a visitor to Temobyl, a city about 60 miles from Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident, returned to the United States with ajar of pickled mushrooms. The mushrooms were radioactive enough to set off Geiger counter alarms as the baggage was being processed. The mushrooms were promptly confiscated by Customs officials. Unfortunately, most toxins are not so readily detected.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For years as a kid I studied the way fungi has helped mitigate and control the radioactive activity in places like Chernobyl and was always so fascinated by how they can do things like that. There’s new evidence actually that came out this year saying how there’s new fungi that’s being found in Chernobyl and the things its doing to the radioactive activity that’s overcame the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In some species the pseudoplasmodium migrates for sometime before it heaps itself up and differentiates into a fructification, the sorocarp. The mature sorocarp consists of a stalk, which in rn.ost species is cellular, and of a mass of spores at its tip. In the majority of species each spore has a wall of its own, but in a few forms the spores are naked and are then called pseudo spores. The entire head of the sorocarp is enveloped in a drop of mucus. There is no peridium enclosing the spores. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its really interesting learning about how it mitigates before frucitification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
” Fungi reproduce both asexually and sexually. Asexual methods of reproduction include simple cell division, budding, fragmentation, and the production of various types of spores. Spore production is particularly well developed in the fungi. Sexual reproduction, which includes plasmogamy, karyogamy, and meiosis, is initiated by various methods. The most common of these are: planogarnetic copulation, gametangial contact, spermatization, and somatogamy. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning about the reproduction process of different fungi has been amazing. before this I didnt really think about how they reproduce other than a spore going onto the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Not only are mushrooms a protein-rich food source for humans, but the by-products of mushroom cultivation unlock nutrients for other members of the ecological community. The rapid return of nutrients back into the ecosystem boosts the life cycles of plants, animals, insects (bees), and soil microflora.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think the fact that it has so many nutritional values as well as helping the ecosystem maintain its lifecycles is really amazing and informative. We cant go on if there’s no fungi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Week 1: “We are bathed in a soup of these procreative morels and inhale the biosphere with every breath. If that doesn’t make you reach for your nasal spray, consider that each mushroom that elbows itself from the ground sheds… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":406,"featured_media":65,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"geo":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-f20-nakiah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}