New Arrival
Just when you thought perhaps all species that could have survived the Great Toxic Sludge Exposure of 2014 already did so, now, however, at nine months post toxic sewage sludge dumping, yet one more toxin-tolerant fungus emerges from the bowels of the deeply sludged forest.
Polyporus varius (Pers.) Fr. (1821) emerged last week from beneath the toxic sludge that was heaped upon an ancient Cedar stump. That relic of a majestic giant tree was likely the source of a great collection of prime, old-growth virgin lumber, once upon a time, perhaps following the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906, when the city was razed and the lumber they needed to rebuild was shipped from Seattle via Puget Sound.
The fungus emerged amongst a scant few of the many moss species that are working also to come back. Now, the once-mighty Cedar provides a nutritional support system for a very woody, colorful and highly toxin-tolerant forest Basidiomycete. We collected about 30 Grams, dry wt, of the Polypore, which was shipped to our lab today for initial work.
There are perhaps 1.5 million species of fungi doing their job across the Earth (decomposing organic matter), and maybe 10,000 or so inhabit the Pacific Northwest, but no one really knows, because the inventory system is weak. Is our P. varius one of a hundred, or perhaps one of that 10,000 or so? And how do they do that? "Who are those guys?" How do they tolerate and survive toxic waste? We shall discover the way.
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