Richard Honour

Richard Honour

May 15, 2015

Group 6 Copy 44
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Cup Fungus, Another Sludgeophagus Fungus

Here we are, eleven months after sludge dumping in the Snoqualmie Forest, and there appears yet another sludgeophagus fungus. It may be that 11 months of Fall, Winter and Spring rains have diluted the sludge-borne toxins to the point where life forms are recovering.

Today I noted new algal blooms on sludge piles, tadpoles in sludge leachate puddles, mosquitoes in swarms and mosquito larvae in anything wet.

In one thick sludge pile, I encountered an assemblage of Cup Fungi (phylum Ascomycota) growing directly in and from the sludge, not from woody material buried in or under the sludge.

A collection was made for identification purposes (there are many Genera and species of Cup Fungi), and to examine more closely the substrate upon which they grow. Identification to species is difficult.

They will be noted and placed in line for in vitro culture studies.

Cup Fungi were growing directly from the sewage sludge that was disposed here last Summer

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About This Project

The Precautionary Group

We've discovered a few new mushrooms thriving in this harsh environment of land-disposed sewage sludge in Snoqualmie, Washington. We're testing these mushrooms for new antimicrobial properties. Microbes that survive exposure to toxic sewage sludge engage adaptive mechanisms that transform toxins into secondary metabolites.

Blast off!

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