Velvet Foot Mushrooms

Several years ago, Mort Shurtz girdled this tree as part of a TSI project (Timber Stand Improvement) at Valley Water Mill.  What we didn't realize at the time was he was just feeding fungus.  Mark Bower, who photographed it, tells me that a forest is just a fungus farm and the TSI is simply feeding it.

This beauty is Flammulina velutipes, a fungus that enjoys the cold, appearing in the last days of fall.  Its cap is slightly sticky with a rubbery feel.  It only grows on hardwoods, although if the wood is buried in dirt it may look like it grows on the soil itself.  The stem is darkened at the base and has a fuzzy or hairy surface.  Its common name is "Velvet Foot" and it is easy to see why in the picture of its stem below.

"Velvet Foot" stem - Mark Bower

The "enoki or "enokitake," mushroom you find in the grocery stores and restaurants, is a cultivated form of Flammulina velutipes.  DNA studies suggest that the haplotype found in North America may have originated in Asia and made it across the Bering Land Bridge at the end of the last ice age. This mushroom can add to its pedigree the title "astronaut" as Michael Kuo describes below.

"In 1993 cultures of Flammulina velutipes were flown on the Space Shuttle Columbia in order to determine how the mushrooms would handle low gravity. Like many wood-inhabiting mushrooms, Flammulina velutipes typically bends its stem near the base, then grows straight up, resulting in a cap that is more or less parallel to the ground--presumably so that spores will fall easily from the gills. Aboard the space shuttle, however, the mushrooms got confused, growing out of a simulated tree trunk at all angles. In other words, they lost their balance." mushroomexpert.com  See research at plosone.org

Not bad for a little fungus that ended up growing on a girdled tree at Valley Water Mill.

November Phenology

Phenology - the scientific study of periodic biological phenomena

Yellowjackets - Vespula maculifrons

Insects are starting to cluster up in protected areas for warmth.  Box elder bugs are everywhere, individuals along the south side of our house and clusters in the early morning chill.  We found this tightly packed bunch of yellowjackets under some leaves at the base of a tree, more protected than our Master Naturalist field trippers in the morning wind.

Jumping bush cricket- sluh.org

The  cricket chorus is slowing down for the winter.  The last voice to be heard is Jay's jumping bush cricket whose brief buzzing call announces the beginning of winter.  They don't recognize daylight savings time, so you still have a chance to hear it just after dark.

Stick insects are now clinging to the sides of our house.  After spending the summer feasting on the leaves high in the trees, the wind, falling leaves and temperatures are dropping them to the ground where they optimistically start climbing up again.  Earlier in the fall they would be found clinging together in a reproductive embrace.  Now they are simply putting off the inevitable, as the adults die in winter, leaving the future to the eggs they deposited randomly last month on the forest floor.

Time to get out the bird feeders.  The best of the berries are already starting to disappear and available insects are rare.  Birds will appreciate the alternate food source, especially high energy sources like peanut butter/seed wads and suet cakes for the woodpeckers and nuthatches, and the occasional crow.

Frost flowers have already appeared twice in Bull Creek valley where cold air drops earlier. This year they "blossomed" again on the morning of the WOLF school field trip. They will continue to bloom unless the ground freezes hard.  In 2001 we saw frost flowers on 40 mornings.  Look for Verbesina virginica, white crownbeard, the best source, along roadsides and fields early on a freezing morning before the sun reaches them.

Bald-faced hornet nest - Wikipedia

The next few weeks will be the best time to look for bird nests as the leaves fall off the trees.  Later in the winter, weather will take its toll on many.  Check out nearby forests for the best trophy, a bald-faced hornet nest.  They tend to wither in winter if someone doesn't take potshots at them.  All the hornets die in winter except newly fertilized queens that fly off and spend the winter underground.  If you are brave or foolhardy you can take the nests down and preserve them with polyurethane spray.  No harm done, unless there are sill hornets defending it!

Blue Velvet on a Stick

Terana caerulea- Mark Bower

If you are a mycologist or a fungus photographer (say that quickly five times, I dare you), hiking in the rain can pay off.  Mark Bower sent me this picture of a fungus he found at Bull Creek known as "blue velvet on a stick".   As you may already know, it was named fungus of the year for 2009 by the German Mycological Society.  If you missed this news, see below.

This is Terana caerulea, a cobalt crust fungus which is found world wide.  It is usually found under fallen logs and branches in damp hardwood forests, especially ash trees.  Crust fungi tend to cling to the surface of their substrate, their fruiting body is against the surface of the substrate rather than on a stalk.

I can't find the criteria used to determine the "Fungus of the Year", but can think of several good reasons for it honor.  For one,  treating T. caerulea with heat or certain chemicals, produces an antibiotic named cortalcerone  that inhibits the growth of Streptococcus pyogenes.

Of more common importance, crust fungi are "white rot fungi", breaking down the dead tree's cell walls.  It reduces the starches to simple sugars, proteins to amino acids, and lipids to fatty acids and glycerol.  Without these saprophytic servants, you can imagine a world without replenished soil where thick layers of dead logs smothered plant growth.  This provides sustenance for worms, beetles millipedes and all the denizens living under dead logs which then feed the next level of predator.

T. caerulea on a 4" log- Mark Bower

This is just one more reason for pausing to look under dead logs in the forest.  There is a whole world of activity going on there including a variety of fungi.  The metabolic activity serves to prevent freezing and on a cold winter day, it may be the only place you can find insect life.  Be sure to put the log back like you find it.  The whole microcosm living there will thank you.

Congratulations T. caerulea, an honor well deserved.

More discussion is at this Loyola site.

Nicotine in the Nest

Cigarette Butts incorporated in nest- Blue Channel 24

Some birds have a nicotine habit. It has long been known that some species of urban birds like house sparrows line their nests with used cigarette filters as well as many other types of human litter, picking up anything that fits their structural purpose.  A report from the National Autonomous University of Mexico investigated the phenomenon in house finch and sparrow nests.  They found that nests with used cigarette filter material had 60% fewer mites than those with unused filters.  Whether the birds selected filters for protection or just insulation is under study now.

Over 2500 species of mites from 40 families are associated with birds.  They can be roughly divided into those living on birds' bodies and others living in their nests.  Nest mites that feed on blood are associated with decreased reproductive success, slowing chick's development or even killing them.  Whether this is a cause or simply reflects larger populations of mites in nests with weakened birds is still being studied.*

Birds such as starlings are known to incorporate fresh aromatic plants into their nests and actually refresh them from time to time.  Theories to explain this behavior range from building up immunity of their chicks to serving as a repellent against harmful parasites.

So have birds figured out that filters reduce parasites or have they just found a ready source of "commercial" insulation with a high R value?  Do the birds benefit from the parasite reduction or is their health affected by the nicotine?  Stay tuned for the next chapter from future studies.

*Much more detailed information on bird nests at this Eastern Kentucky University site.

Even Hornworms Get the Blues

Toxin free hornworm - Picture by  Addicted2hymenoptera

"You are what you eat."  - Victor Lindlahr

Most people have seen tobacco or tomato hornworms, a fat bright green caterpillar with a horn decorating its rear.  Given the right diet they can be a bright blue.  This is about the how and why.

Why are hornworms green in the first place?  Their color comes from what they eat, but surprisingly it has nothing to do with chlorophyll they consume.   Chlorophyll is completely metabolized, leaving no trace of pigment.  When fall comes, the chlorophyll of plants breaks down, leaving another pigment called xanthophyll which gets less press.  It is a carotenoid that gives carrots and fall leaves their color.  It can even give you carotenemia, an orange color to your skin and especially the palms of your hands if you eat excessive amounts over a long period of time.

Unlike our red blood cells carrying hemoglobin, many invertebrates, including insects and crustaceans, transport oxygen in their blood with a chemical called hemocyanin.  It is copper based and thus blue.  If you add the yellow of xanthophyll, as you will recall from grade school art class, blue + yellow produces green!

Typical hornworm, Manduca sexta

Now why are there blue hornworms?  It has to do with a commercial market.  Some time back, biologists discovered that feeding a non tomato/tobacco diet could produce blue hornworms.  Leave it to business to find a market for hornworms raised on special diets.

There is an industry of exotic pets such as geckos and bearded dragons that need live food.  The hornworm feeds on tomato and tobacco plants which are members of the Solanaceae family which produce toxic alkaloid-type nicotine related chemicals that protect them from most leaf eating species.  The hornworms, Manduca sexta, gradually adapted over time to live with the plant, eating them voraciously - Manduca is Latin for "glutton."  They selectively sequester and secret the nicotine, protecting them from the toxin.

To avoid the toxins, and because it is easier to use, there is now commercially available horn worm food which is free of the toxins found in their normal Solanaceae diet.  Truly a product that you have been waiting for.  Now we need studies to see if birds will avoid the blue hornworms.

For an overview on Manduca sexta, see this site.
Tobacco or tomato hornworm?  See this August blog.

Leafhopper

On a field trip a few weeks ago through the woods at Henning CA, one of our members found this tiny insect.  It took a little while to track it down, but I believe it is either Cuerna septentrionalis, a black and red leafhopper or Cuerna costalis. 

This is a member of the Cicadellidae family of leafhoppers, a group which is colorfully diverse although structurally similar.  There are over 3,000 known species in the US, ranging from 2 to 20 mm in length.  Ours was 7 mm, around a quarter of an inch.

They can be found in nearly any habitat that has vascular plants.  Both the adults and larvae feed on stems and leaves.  In doing so, they extract nutrient poor xylem with a thin mix of organic substances and minerals.  They also may transmit plant diseases, in some cases producing significant economic damage.

Females lay their eggs in living plant tissue and the larvae that hatch will grow through 5 molts.  After egg laying and molting, the eggs and subsequent instars are coated with a light dusting of water-repellent waxy material (brochosomes), a liquid secreted from their anus.  This is thought to repel not only water but their excreta which is sticky and could hinder their movement.  It is also thought to carry pheromones, giving a whole new meaning to the "after" in aftershave.  Not a very appealing trait to us, but it works for them.

This is one of a series of finds on a Master Naturalist training field trip.  More pictures from the field trip are at Finds from the Field.

River Cooter

I am on the trails at Bull Creek almost daily and see the usual turkey and deer.  Our nephew Jon comes down for a few days twice a year and invariably finds something neat.  This weekend it was a river cooter, a species known to live in the southern half of Missouri although not previously reported for Christian County.

The river cooter, Pseudemys concinna, has an olive brown shell, called a carapace, with concentric yellow markings.  It is curved upward on the edges and the ventral surface (plastron) is a pale yellow with occasional markings on the forward surface.  The males have exceptionally long nails on the forelegs.

The cooters are usually found basking in the sun on logs.  They dine on aquatic plants, occasionally spiced up with a side of snails, crayfish and aquatic insects.   The name "cooter" may have come from slaves, derived from an African word "kuta" which means turtle.

I assume this one is a male, or else it had just been to the mall for nail extensions.  They have an interesting mating habit, luring the female by displaying the length of their nails.  This is another guy thing, like deers' antlers and turkeys' tails, where bigger is better.  The male will vibrate his claws in front of the female, stroking her face.  If she accepts the offer, they drop to the bottom to mate.  Like all turtles, the female cooter will emerge onto dry land to lay her eggs a few weeks later.

They have several other interesting characteristics.  They cannot swallow except under water, although they will take food from land with them into the water.  In colder climes, they will lay dormant under the mud for up to two months.  During that time they don't breathe but can absorb water through their cloaca.*

* The cloaca is a single opening for intestinal, urinary and reproductive functions.