Lycoperdon spore SEM by SilentDisc
Summary
Spores: the raison d'être of mushrooms. Invisible, ubiquitous, these tiny grains are in every breath we breathe. In this episode we learn a little more about how they work, and how they shape the world around them.
This mini-episode was originally published exclusively for our Patreon supporters. To get early access to next season’s mini-episodes and other goodies, pay only what you can at www.patreon.com/futureecologies
Photo of Ganoderma applanatum and orange spore deposit by Henk Monster
Shownotes
Featured on this episode is Paul Kroeger: founding member and frequent president of the Vancouver Mycological Society, and co-author of The Outer Spores: The Mushrooms of Haida Gwaii.
Thanks as always to Kmathz for the kick-butt theme song for this series. Other music in this episode was produced by Selu Herraiz (aka Lilith'21) and PORTBOU.
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This podcast includes audio recorded by craigsmith, Bubnasty, jmbphilmes, shapeshifterD, Snapper4298, leonsptvx, and Timbre, protected by Creative Commons attribution licenses, and accessed through the Freesound Project.
Sources for this episode are:
Chang, K. (2017, July 27). Fungi Physics: How Those Spores Launch Just Right. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/science/fungi-mushrooms-spores.html
Frazer, J. (2016, February 24). Made by Rain, Mushrooms Also Make It. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/made-by-rain-mushrooms-also-make-it/
Fröhlich-Nowoisky J. et al., High diversity of fungi in air particulate matter, PNAS 106:31, 12814-12819, 17 July 2009, DOI:10.1073/pnas.0811003106
Hassett MO, Fischer MWF, Money NP (2015) Mushrooms as Rainmakers: How Spores Act as Nuclei for Raindrops. PLoS ONE 10(10): e0140407. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140407
O'Connor, K. (2019, February 26). Raindrops launch plant spores into the wind, spread fungi. Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved from https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/02/raindrops-launch-plant-spores-wind-spread-fungi
Stolze-Rybczynski, J. L., Cui, Y., Stevens, M. H., Davis, D. J., Fischer, M. W., & Money, N. P. (2009). Adaptation of the spore discharge mechanism in the basidiomycota. PloS one, 4(1), e4163. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004163
This episode of Future Ecologies was recorded on the unceded territories of the Musqueam (xwməθkwəy̓əm) Squamish (Skwxwú7mesh), and Tsleil-Waututh (Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh) Nations - otherwise known as Vancouver, British Columbia.