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Nature Walk June 6 - plants, animals, and fungi!
Today I paid special attention to fungi and insects on my walk on an overcast evening in Leominster, MA. When I went on this walk, seeing insects and fungi with more knowledge and familiarity reminded me of a few things. Fungi are more closely related to animals than they are to plants. This still seems counterintuitive to me, but I know that they are both heterotrophs, meaning they obtain their food and do not produce it themselves. Fungi absorb it and animals consume it. Fungi are so incredibly diverse in their appearance and role, and today it was highlighted by this elder whitewash, shelf fungi,
and mildew on trees and leaves. I had to pay attention to insects and animals as they are enormously diverse as well. I made sure to mark this with a moth, fly, mosquito, and bumble bee. My species of plant were oak tree with galls (evidence of insects), a knotweed, and thyme moss to remind me of nonvascular plants from last time.
Observations
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What
Bumble Bees (Genus Bombus)Observer
colaruaaDescription
An insect! This was a cool one for me as I got to observe a bumble bee up close, which I don’t often choose to do. I wanted to get some insects in my observations.
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What
Shelf Fungi (Order Polyporales)Observer
colaruaaDescription
Maybe some kind of polypore for a classic example of a fungus. As for its purpose, I am not really sure if this is spreading a disease to this tree or if it is decaying it, but it was all over the tree. When I see fungi like this, I now think that they are incredibly complex. They absorb food, and I this multicellular one has hyphae to name a few characteristics.
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What
Flies (Order Diptera)Observer
colaruaaDescription
A fly - I have enjoyed learning about differences between animals, fungi, and plants.
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What
Powder Moth (Eufidonia notataria)Observer
colaruaaDescription
Maybe my best shot at an insect today. I took this picture right after it landed on this pine tree.
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What
Elder Whitewash (Lyomyces sambuci)Observer
colaruaaDescription
A blotchy, chalky fungus on this dead branch. This fungus is breaking down the tree’s lignin as we learned in Codon, an important function of fungi.
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What
Powdery Mildews (Family Erysiphaceae)Observer
colaruaaDescription
An example of a powdery mildew that might be infecting this leave, unfortunately one of the things fungi do. I never thought of fungi as being so diverse and affecting leaving in myriad ways.
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What
Oak Wart Gall Wasp (Callirhytis quercusfutilis)Observer
colaruaaDescription
SOME KIND of gall that shows evidence of insect feeding or egg laying. This phenomenon was in a Codon module.
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What
Typical Shield Lichens (Subfamily Parmelioideae)Observer
colaruaaDescription
Lichen - a typical example of fungi but it reminds me how interesting it is that they are closer to animals than they are to plants. Animals and plants are both heterotrophs so they obtain their food. Fungi absorb it and animals consume it.
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