Fungi and lichen
Tornado boosted occurrances of flesh-eating fungus
Last years tornado that hit Joplin, MO was devastating. It left 160 dead and over 1,000 injured. 5 of those who died had been infected with a usually harmless fungus that tuned into a flesh-eater. 7 others infected survived. The fungus Apophysomyces is found all around us - in the water, soil and air. Normally it [...]
Fungus treatment makes new violins sound like old Stradivarius
After a rousing season of the Proms on the BBC the value of high quality instrument makers becomes apparent. This is particular so of the wood section. As a natural material the quality of the sound is attributable not just to the quality of the manufacturer but also the conditions that the wood grew under and [...]
England’s Green Dozen
England is set to get 12 new wildlife sites following an announcement today by the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The new nature reserves is set to cover hundreds of thousands of hectares of both rural and urban areas and cost up to £7.5 million. The new wildlife projects announced today by [...]
Nature cleaning up our most dangerous pollution
At a disused oil refinery site in Montreal, Canada, willow trees are growing in highly contaminated soil and deep in the roots the fungi are at work cleaning up the mess humans have left behind. The actions of the fungi are being studied by at team from the University in order to find which species [...]
The suicide bite of zombie ants
There’s lots of weird and wonderful life cycles in the natural world but they probably don’t come much stranger than a parasitic fungus in the tropical rain-forest. This beast of a fungus infects ants, destroying their brains before finally forcing the ant to take a suicide bite of a leaf.
Forgotten fungi
Much publicity is given towards tigers, otters, eagles and other animals at risk of extinction; unfortunately, fungi and other cryptogams tend to get little attention. For the past 20 or 30 years the number of, diversity and range of fungi have decreased greatly. What impact will this have on ecosystems? And what is causing these [...]