Daily Account #18- fungi and forbes tours

5/24- we were in the UBNA for the fungi and forbes class tours. i didn't take many notes, but i did note things i thought were interesting or questions that i had.

it was a beautiful day- very muggy, very sunny, in the 60s F, light wind, and the ground was wet from previous rains.

before even starting class, i was actually walking on the gravel path alongside the creek, and saw a red-headed, large black-bodied woodpecker with a black and white striped neck, totally going at it on a dead upright wooden tree trunk in the water. it was pecking away at a little over my height on the trunk. i was amazed at the force with which it was throwing its head at the tree! i couldn't help thinking that if it got mad at us watching, and somehow decided to start pecking at our heads, that it would be a very painful experience...

in one of the fungi stations we looked at jelly fungus growing on a fence- it was bright orange, small, and had a gelatinous consistency. but it made me wonder- why is jelly fungus so vibrant? does the color serve and evolutionary purpose? it was so unlike any of the other species we saw that day.

we also learned that 500 million years ago, there were 27' tall mushrooms! they dominated the landscape for about 40 million years. that sounds so epic and strange at the same time.

the forbes group explained that forbes are flowering herbacious plants. the most interesting species we learned about was skunk cabbage- which has that stink to attract its pollinators. it also makes its own body heat, and digs itself deeper into the ground by contracting its roots- essentially, its roots look and act like earth worms!

Posted on June 4, 2012 03:45 AM by akumar