Vlog: Gatwick Fungi survey Oct 20 - Undescribed species to science

Last week, local mycologist Nick Aplin visited Gatwick for a fungi survey; he recently found not one, but two undescribed species to science in Goat Meadow! Join us on the hunt in this 6 minute vid to re-find these species...

Legends from an Elm branch

Guest author: Nick Aplin

A post about Elm trees, bryo-parasites, cannibalistic fungi, new species and the joys of microecology...

One of the problems with recording fungi is that the bloomin’ things are everywhere.
   Seriously, everywhere. They’re in your fridge. They’re on every single leaf. They’re even in your lungs whilst you’re reading this. Considering their ubiquity, surveying a whole piece of woodland can be somewhat daunting for the average mycologist. Where should one start?
   I think the best thing to do is earmark a microhabitat or two; perhaps an old stump, a muddy ditch or maybe a little mossy patch. Around Picketts Wood there are thankfully many such nooks and crannies: A fallen Pine trunk here, a dead hedge there...

Late last year I stumbled upon a little stand of Elm trees, presumably struggling in their war against Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, a nasty fungus which is to blame for the fact we generally doesn’t see Elms around much anymore (Dutch Elm Disease has so far claimed the lives of about 100 million Elm trees in the Northern Hemisphere).
   These trees at Picketts Wood are a bit sad looking, with many droopy dead bits. Luckily the decomposing branches are home to lots of other organisms, including some curious little fungi. To give you a snapshot of the sheer omnipresence and diversity of the fungus kingdom, I’d like to tell you about some of the many species I found on just one Elm branch over the last few weeks:

The first two species are largely dependent on dead Elm wood for survival – I wonder whether they will both be in decline considering the effects of Dutch Elm Disease?

Orbilia comma

Orbilia comma, with its little spores that look like commas.
 (OK you have to squint a bit whilst using your imagination….)

Quaternaria dissepta

A cross section of Quaternaria dissepta, its ominous, black fruitbodies embedded in the substrate and its dark, curved spores. If Darth Vader were a fungus, I reckon he’d be this one.

Bionectria ralfsii

Some scaly fruitbodies of Bionectria ralfsii breaking through the bark. This species usually comes with two types of spore: hyaline, sexually produced ascospores (right) along with green, lemon-shaped asexual spores called conidia (left).  Yes, fungi have sex too – Gross, right?

Cryptodiscus (Karstenia) rhopaloides

Karstenia rhopaloides likes to break through the bark of dead branches and is surprisingly common on many different woody plants throughout the colder months. Officially, this species is known as Cryptodiscus rhopaloides, but I guess no one has had the time to move it to the right genus yet….
Can you spot it in the branch photo above?

Diaporthe eres

A cross section of Diaporthe eres - Here, the spores are created in chambers below the surface of the substrate and are then ejected through those long creepy looking black tubes.

Hyalorbila erythrostigma

Hyalorbilia erythrostigma -These little guys are found eating other fungi. Sometimes they like to parasitize Orbilia species (see O.comma above). This little group were growing near lots of other fungi too, so I wasn’t quite sure what they were up to here!  There are only 3 previous UK records for this species.

I have no idea what to call this one. I don’t even think it has a name, yet. I know that some mycologists are aware of its existence, but they don’t know what to call it either. Perhaps it’s a Lasionectria, perhaps something else entirely. Answers on a postcard….
   Isn’t it strange to think that there are undescribed species around Gatwick?

Octospora affinis

Finally, this is Octospora affinis, a bryoparasite. It has a rather boring diet. It only eats Orthothichum affine (the moss that you can see growing on the branch above – Thanks to Brad Scott for the ID). This collection on our Elm branch is the first time it’s been seen in the UK. Perhaps it occurs elsewhere; I can’t imagine many people out there are looking for it….
   I should say that I have no idea what species of Elm I've been looking at. Elm taxonomy eludes me. If you happen to find an Elm expert (Pteleologist!) hanging around Gatwick, please point them in my direction!

Nick Aplin (Sussex Fungi Group)

Nick's fruitful fungi foray

Guest Author: Nick Aplin

Sussex Fungi Group: 18^th October 2014

(Contributing records to the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre)

Brown Cup (Rutstroemia firma)

It was a dull and overcast morning on our first visit to Brockley Wood, but several of us were optimistic that the recent wet weather would bring out some interesting species. Finding fungi can sometimes be a fruitless exercise and the start of the season had certainly been quite patchy in many respects.

Our route - Brockley Wood in the North West Zone

Initially, we spent some time searching the grassland north of the runway, where we found a few species associated with buried wood and other debris, namely Lacrymaria lacrymabunda The Weeping Widow, Gymnopilus junonius Spectacular Rustgill, Coprinus comatus Shaggy Inkcap and Pholiota gummosa Sticky Scalycap.

Spectacular Rustgill (Gymnopilus junonius)

(Coprinellus domesticus) Firerug Inkcap

A large pile of rotting wood and roots yielded several small and common species including Hypholoma fasciculare Sulphur Tuft, Coprinellus domesticus Firerug Inkcap and Mycena adscendens Frosty Bonnet.

The delicately beautiful Bark Bonnet (Mycena speirea)

I had hopes that we’d see a few of the species which are indicators of unimproved grassland as we began climbing the path to the south east of Brockley Wood. True to form, we were greeted with our first rarity; the lovely but understated Arrhenia griseopallida, a species which seems to favour short turf and fairly exposed locations.

Arrhenia griseopallida

Although it was perhaps a little too early for Waxcaps, we also found two Entoloma species which are also unimproved meadow specialists, E.sericeum and E.sericellum, the latter growing on a very steep slope and proving very difficult to photograph!

Extreme-fungi photographing: Entoloma sericellum

‘LBJ’ (=little brown job) is an acronym that was, I think, created by birders but a term that we often ‘borrow’ to describe certain cryptic, anonymous-looking brown mushrooms.

Many mycologists don’t like LBJ’s, but some (like me!) take great interest in them. Good job, too, as we stumbled upon several as we entered Brockley Wood. The first three were Cortinarius species, a genus of mushrooms which like to grow in a special symbiosis (called a mycorrhiza) with tree roots, the tree and the fungus effectively ‘swapping’ nutrients to benefit both parties.

The first, Cortinarius decipiens Sepia Webcap, grows on the outskirts of the Wood, mycorrhizal with Willows.

 Sepia Webcap (Cortinarius decipiens)

The other two species seemed mycorrhizal with the same Oak tree. The rebellious Cortinarius vernus Spring Webcap clearly didn’t want to live up to its name. Interestingly, the majority of the UK records of this species are autumnal, so perhaps we should think up a new name? The Germans apparently call it ‘Pink Stalk’ so I might go with that, considering the colours at the bottom of the stem…Yes, Pinkstalk Webcap. Let’s go with that.

Pinkstalk Webcap (Cortinarius vernus)

The third species, Cortinarius psammocepalus, was a nice surprise and seems to be very rarely recorded, with only a dozen or so UK records. I can’t find a ‘common name’ for this one, so I’m tempted to go along with the beautifully descriptive Latin epithet and call it Sandhead Webcap. Oooh yes, that’s even nicer than my last made-up name.

Sandhead Webcap (Cortinarius psammocepalus)

Ash trees are apparently incapable of supporting any mycorrizal symbiosis with the larger fungi but to make up for it, they provide a very nice habitat for saprotrophic species after they die.

As there is plenty of dead Ash wood in Brockley Wood, it was no surprise that we recorded several species fruiting on it. 

Simocybe centunculus

Coniophora puteana Wet Rot

Another obscure LBJ; Simocybe centunculus, and the crustose Coniophora puteana Wet Rot were put to shame by a beautifully coloured but tiny fungus Crepidotus cinnabarinus (strange that this one has no common name either!), first recorded in 1995, probably as an introduction. The increase of reports in recent years seems to suggest that the species is spreading.

The tiny, yet striking Crepidotus cinnabarinus 

On our way back to the meeting point, we discovered several fruiting bodies of a Bird’s Nest Fungus, Crucibulum laeve, fruiting on and around the base of various dead herb stems. A cheerful sight to end the day!

Bird’s Nest Fungus, (Crucibulum laeve)

 Full species list:

Lacrymaria lacrymabunda

Leucoagaricus leucothites

Datronia mollis

Trametes versicolor

Mycena adscendens

Coprinellus domesticus

Phlebia radiata

Mycena speirea

Hypholoma fasciculare

Coprinellus disseminatus

Melanotus horizontalis

Lycogala terrestre

Crepidotus mollis

Lasiosphaeria ovina

Panaeolus semiovatus

Coprinus comatus

Marasmiellus ramealis

Crepidotus cinnabarinus

Parasola leiocephala

Mycena galericulata

Pluteus cervinus

Scleroderma citrinum

Gymnopus fusip es

Schizopora paradoxa

Tubaria furfuracea

Psathyrella microrhiza

Xylaria hypoxylon

Auricularia auricula-judae

Lycoperdon perlatum

Gymnopilus junonius

Crucibulum leave

Coprinopsis lagopus

Clitocybe rivulosa

Entoloma sericellum

Arrhenia griseopallida

Simocybe centunculus var.centunculus

Mycena flavescens

Mycena aetites

Pholiota gummosa

Crepidotus variabilis

Cortinarius psammocephalus

Cortinarius decipiens

Coniophora puteana

Cortinarius vernus
Rutstroemia firma

British fungal firsts at Gatwick!

We've had a pretty awesome update from local fungi expert, Nick Aplin... coming about 3 months late due to my email filter sending important things to my junkmail!!

Nick and the Sussex Fungi Group at Upper Picketts Wood, November 2013

You might bump into the affable Mr Aplin about the Gatwick woodlands, where he keeps a sharp eye out for unusual fungi species (which to me would be just about all of them). Some of these finds are extremely cryptic and I'm still blown away by how he does it. More incredibly, one of Nick's most recent findings has been previously unrecorded in Britain!

Arecophila striatispora growing on Pendulous Sedge. Photo by Nick Aplin

Ok, so it might be hard to know what we are looking at here...This is a fungus growing within the tissue of a plant, specifically Pendulous Sedge. Fungi which can be found within plants are called endophytes; they are not highly visible, but they can have very complex relationships with their host plant and we are finding out new things about them all the time. For example, some species might be harmful to their host, whereas others can share nutrients and may even protect them from disease.

Ascospores of Arecophila striatispora (Photo by Nick Aplin). Each ascus contains several spores

It is incredible to think how a relationship between two distinct organisms like this might have evolved, possibly one was coerced into becoming reliant on the other (in the world of psychotherapy this is described as codependency and is generally discouraged in humans).
   This particular fungus belongs to the group Ascomycota, as it produces reproductive spores in a little sac called an 'ascus'. This feature helps us to classify certain fungi and with clever tests such as staining the asci with iodine, we can narrow them down to the particular genus or species.

Nick's home lab set up: Brunel SP150 microscope. The scope at the top is a Nikon camera adapter which boosts the magnification, useful whether dissecting or simply photographing specimens

This species has been confirmed by the experts in Europe as Arecophila striatispora, previously unrecorded in our fair isles and so is a great achievement for Nick. Also, kudos to the guy for not slicing off his fingertips during some incredibly fiddly dissection work.
   But that's not the end of it, because Nick has recently discovered yet another first for Britain on our site! 

Gnomonia amoena fruiting body on the petiole of a Hornbeam leaf (Photo by Nick Aplin)

This rather disturbing looking thing is the fruiting body of a fungus (Gnomonia amoena), growing on the stem of a Hornbeam leaf. Have you ever seen the movie Dreamcatcher? It reminds me of the sinister (and gross) alien in that. 
   Apparently, this sinister looking thing belongs to a group of fungi which are very harmful to trees, but luckily this particular species is quite benign (unless you happen to be an individual Hornbeam leaf, then you should RUN.)

Gnomonia amoena ascospores, showing a reaction with iodine causing staining at the tips

As you can tell from the characteristic ascospores (you can, right?) this is another ascomycete species. It was found on leaves at the base of our very old and rather impressive Hornbeam tree in Lower Picketts Wood...

Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). This beauty is a impressive size and the photo doesn't do it justice

The other cool thing is that Nick has yet another tricky specimen in the pipeline, which he is also waiting to get confirmed as a British first...

Cross-section of plant tissue, revealing the as yet unknown species (Photo by Nick Aplin)

...it is another ascomycete

I always look forward to the next update from Nick with his latest macro shots. You can check out more of the beautiful fungal underworld in this album: Nick's fungi at Gatwick.