The mycologist最新文献

Although fungi are fundamentally important in our every day lives, the Kingdom is largely ignored by the National Curriculum in the United Kingdom. Consequently, children are missing out on being taught about a crucially important group of organisms. This paper aims to show the deficiencies in the curriculum specifications in UK primary and secondary schools, and describes a range of British Mycological Society learning resources designed to remedy the situation. These ready-made (and classroom-tested) lessons and workshop sessions cover a range of fungal topics from cell structure and function, through biotechnology to health topics and plant growth and disease. The resources include games and activities, aiming to increase knowledge and awareness of fungi in an active, entertaining way and thereby maintain interest in biology as a science.

European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is an important forest tree species which was always considered being non-problematic with regard to its susceptibility to pathogens and insects. However during the past decade, in Europe and the north-eastern USA an increasing number of trees and stands were showing symptoms typical for Phytophthora diseases: increased crown transparency, abnormally small and often yellowish foliage, a dieback of the crown, tongue-shaped necroses of the inner bark and the cambium with tarry or rusty spots on the surface of the bark either extending up to 7m from the stem base (collar rot) or occurring isolated higher up the stem (aerial bleeding cankers), fine root destructions and necrotic lesions on suberized roots. Large-scale investigations on both continents using specific isolation methods and ELISA kits for detection, and morphological and physiological parameters as well as ITS-DNA sequence analysis for identification demonstrated that several Phytophthora species were regularly involved as inciting agents of the decline. The most important species were Phytophthora citricola, P. cambivora and P. cactorum in Europe, and P. inflata in the USA. Their pathogenicity to beech was shown by stem inoculation and soil infestation tests performed by various groups. A small-scale nursery survey in Germany revealed that beech fields are regularly infested with various Phytophthora species. Options for disease management and control are discussed, and an emphasis is put on the prevention of disease spread via infested nursery stock.

An early Renaissance painting of a hunt by Paolo Uccello depicts a large number of objects most likely to be mushrooms on a forest floor. The putative mushrooms do not suggest any strong symbolism and the hunters and their entourage do not appear to pay any attention to them.

The myco-heterotrophs comprise over 400 achlorophyllous plant species in 87 genera that are parasitic upon fungi, and exploit them as their principle source of carbon. In addition, there are estimated to be over 30,000 species, comprising approximately 10% of the plant kingdom, that depend upon myco-heterotrophy for establishment from dust seeds or spores. These initially myco-heterotrophic plants require fungal-carbon during their critical early establishment phases but go on to produce green shoots on emerging into light from soil or as epiphytes on other plants. This extraordinary mode of nutrition, first recognised more than a century ago, is hidden in the initially myco-heterotrophic plants and in the fully achlorophyllous species continues to be misrepresented by many botanists as a form of ‘saprophytism’. As a consequence, the parasitic dependence of these plants upon fungi is not widely appreciated. This is the only group of parasitic plants for which, in over 90% of cases, the host species (which are fungi) providing their carbon and nutrients remain unidentified. This article reviews some of the exciting recent progress made in understanding the nature and properties of fungi parasitized by plants, and in the use of distinctive carbon and nitrogen isotope ‘signatures’ of myco-heterotrophs to quantify fungal dependence in plants with green shoots that remain partially myco-heterotrophic in adulthood.

Helen Gwynne-Vaughan and Lilian Hawker were influential British mycologists active in the early and mid-20^th century respectively. Here their personalities, careers, research achievements and writings are assessed and compared.

The Glomeromycota is the newest fungal phylum. These are the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi that form symbioses with the majority of land plant species. Fossil and molecular evidence suggest this is an ancient symbiosis, that may have been instrumental in enabling plants to colonise terrestrial habitats. The AM fungi gain carbon from their plant host, and the primary benefit to plants is thought to be the acquisition of phosphate, a highly immobile ion in soil. However, they are thought to have many other ecological benefits. Host specificity has been considered to be low in this group, as most fungi in culture will colonise most plants, but recent evidence suggests that some AM fungi show a degree of specificity. We review the evidence revealing the genetic structure of this ancient group of fungi. Although a consensus has not yet been reached, we suggest that understanding the evolution and genetic structure of this enigmatic group may be the key to understanding how they function in ecosystems.