Richard Honour

Richard Honour

May 31, 2015

Group 6 Copy 49
1

Not Nice to Disrespect Mother Nature

Mother Nature (MN): So, you went into the forest again today?

Investigator (I): Yes.

MN: Where did you go?

I: Same area, but a different seasonal stream and wetlands, within a quarter mile of the last site.

MN: What did you find?

I: Same story; sewage sludge dumping in a seasonal stream bed and the adjacent wetlands.

MN: What about the fungi you've been following – did you find any?

I: Oh, yes! I found the same few fungi that seem to tolerate toxic sewage sludge exposure, and which are the first ones to recolonize toxic sludge deposits as time passes.

MN: Which ones?

I: Three or four Mycena spp., including one we're culturing in the lab, plus Hypholoma fasiculare, and a close relative, as well as the Cup Fungi we have been seeing of late.

MN: That's it? Same story twelve months on? Is there a recurring pattern here?

I: Yeah, and sometimes the same few resilient survivors and toxin-tolerant species are found together, such as the Mycena spp and the Cup Fungi observed today in the same rain-washed sludge lumps and piles – amazing.

MN: Anything new?

I: Maybe another Mycena spp. emerging from the sludge in the stream bed. No other life forms seem to grow in this stuff, other than a moss and a couple of small plantlets. Maybe we're on to something.

MN: I better get busy!

Mycena spp. emerging from a sewage sludge pile with a single moss species.

Mycena cinerella, our constant sewage sludge degrader (Cinerella means, ashen).

Mycena spp., emerging anew from 11-month-old sewage sludge in a well-sludged stream bed.

Same species fully opened next to the moss, with a companion mite.

Hypholoma fasiculare emerging from the deep sludge covered forest floor.

Another Basidiomycete nearby.

Mycena spp and sludge-tolerant moss emerging from the sewage sludge.

Mycena spp. emerging from the sludge, along with some Cup Fungi.

The Cup Fungi with moss and a plantlet emerging from forest-disposed sewage sludge after 11 months of weathering.

The hairy Cup Fungi, up close and personal.

Another sludge tolerant Mycena spp. nearby.

That other sludge tolerant Mycena spp., in situ; hardly anything grows in this toxic, sludge-strewn wasteland.

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  • Richard Honour
    Richard HonourResearcher
    Thank you, Daniel and Alan. Its a jungle out there.
    Jun 01, 2015

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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