Closer look: The fungus that breaks down wood and stains green
A speck of blueish-green can be seen on a piece of rotting wood on the ground. The colour comes from the green elfcup, Chlorociboria aeruginascens, a fungus that breaks down wood and leaves a characteristic colour stain.
The clear discs seen in the photo are the fruiting body of the fungus, and they are less common than the pigmented wood, which can often be found scattered throughout Swedish forests. For centuries, this so-called ‘spalted’ wood has been sought after in fine carpentry for its eye-catching appearance, despite the fact that it has softened and become brittle from decay.
The photo was taken by Alexandra Dombrowski during her fieldwork in search of another group of fungi: Hymenogaster, often called ‘false truffles’. These underground species are the focus of her doctoral research in fungal taxonomy, a field that involves identifying, naming and distinguishing species. By combining field observations, DNA sequencing, microscopy and species distribution modelling, her research aims to understand how many species exist within the genus, how they differ and how they are related to other fungi. As much of the fungal kingdom is still unknown, this work contributes towards wider efforts to map and understand one of the Earth’s most diverse and least explored life forms.
Text: Erika Hoff
A picture says more than a thousand words. Science & IT Magazine takes a closer look at a scientific phenomenon.
