THE FUNGI KINGDOM

Fly amanita (Amanita muscaria), photo by Rosemary Taylor.

 

ACTIVITY: THE MACROFUNGI OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

 

In this activity, we explore the  macrofungi of British Columbia via E-Flora BC. Macrofungi are the fleshy fungi and include mushrooms or ''toadstools', puffballs, hoofed fungi, coral fungi and other  large types of fungi.  E-Flora BC provides atlas pages on each species found in BC.  Each atlas page contains important biogeographic information. This includes information on the geography of a species, the substrate it grows on, what it looks like, and how to identify it by colour, smell and microscopic features.

 

Preparation (instructions for teachers)

Collect a mixture of macrofungi in the fall and bring to the classroom. Include examples of different macrofungi types, including gilled fungi, pore fungi, jelly fungi, puffballs, and coral fungi.   Some mushrooms are poisonous, so be careful when handling them—wash your hands after handling.  Display in a transparent container is recommended.

Familiarize yourself with the contents and resources of the E-Flora website. This site covers vascular plants, (macro)fungi, algae, bryophytes, lichens and slime molds. 

Become particularly familiar with the fungi sections and the basics of fungal diversity, habitats, and structure. This information can be obtained from the E-Flora species pages. Read the introduction to the fungi on E-Flora BC:  The Macrofungi of British Columbia.  Visit a selection of atlas pages.

Key points:

• There are four groups in the Fungi Kingdom.  E-Flora BC  provides coverage of two of these (the macrofungi):
  • the Ascomycota, commonly known as Ascomycetes or Ascos
  • the Basidiomycota, commonly known Basidiomycetes or Basidios.
• BC has a high diversity of  macrofungi. There are more than 1700 species already listed for our province in E-Flora BC, with associated atlas pages.   But fungi experts feel that BC probably has more than 5000 species of macrofungi, so the number of atlas pages will increase.
• Fungi have diverse morphology and reproductive structures as found in jelly fungi, ear fungi, bird’s nest fungi, and more.
• Fungi play an important ecological role, they grow in many habitats and directly influence forests and other natural systems through mutualism and mycorrhizal associations.
• Some fungi form specific partnerships with vascular plants. An example of this are fungi in the family Thelephoraceae ( a mycorrhizal fungi family) that form a partnership with the phantom orchid, a rare wild orchid species in BC. 

 

Methods:

15 minutes – Diversity of BC fungi

Gather students around the collection of wild fungi.  Discuss several specimens and ask questions to engage students, such as:

• Look at the different shapes of mushrooms, from ear fungi to 'toadstools', to learn how variable in shape they can be.
• What are the main distinctive characteristics of this mushroom? (emphasize morphological differences between specimens)
• What do you think (specific structure on the mushroom) is for?
• Make spore prints from mushrooms caps and observe their colour (colour of spores is important in identification).

(This portion of the lesson is an opportunity to assess students’ background knowledge and incite their curiosity.

15-20 minutes – Ecology of fungi

Allow students to think about the roles that fungi play in the different ecosystems where they occur, and how they relate to other species. Guide the discussion with questions like:

• ·Where would you find this mushroom? What are the characteristics of that place (biotic and abiotic)?
• List out the types of places where mushrooms grow (forest, fields, bogs, old logs, on the ground, on trees, and even on cow patties). Habitat types can help scientists and students identify a mushroom; use the E-Flora BC pages to try to identify the collected specimens.
• What eats mushrooms in the wild? Do deer eat fungi?
• Using the E-Flora BC pages, try to find out what eats mushrooms.
• What are the roles that fungi play in their habitats? (e.g., decomposers, symbiosis with vascular plants) Give an example of how a forest depends on fungi.
• Do you think mushrooms are important to any vascular plants, especially trees? (e.g., the phantom orchid in BC, show picture on E-Flora, depends on a partnership with a fungus in the fungi family Thelephoraceae (show picture of members of this family). It can't live without it. Many other plants forms partnerships with fungi, in fact most trees are dependent in partnerships or symbiosis. Can you name any?)

15 minutes – The fungi around us

• Deliver content on the two groups of fungi previously studied (through prepared lecture, overheads, E-Flora website, etc.) including the morphological characteristics of local  fungi, ecology, seasonality, biogeography, reproduction, risks to human health, etc.

• Suggested guiding questions:
  • Mushrooms are decomposers and play an ecological role in the forest. They can help the forest renew itself and they help generate new soil. How does a mushroom do this?
  • What kind of fungi are you most likely to find in the school backyard/forest in the fall? In summer?

Assessment:

1) What are the main morphological characteristics of mushrooms? Draw a  gilled mushroom and label cap, gills, spores and stipe.

2) How do fungi reproduce?

 

3) What is the ecological importance of fungi.

 

4) Where do fungi grow and where can they be found in BC?

Field Trip Activity (30-40 minutes):

Plan a field trip with your class to the school backyard (if fungi can be found there) or the forest, if possible. The best time of the year to do this would be the fall, when mushrooms are abundant. Prepare students for the field trip by browsing E-Flora BC for the  types of mushrooms they will be looking for in the wild (e.g., puffballs, jelly fungi, gilled mushrooms’, ear fungi, hoof fungi). The discussion could be directed by questions such as:

• What kind of fungi is a puffball? Or a morel?
• How do jelly mushrooms grow?
• Why should we keep our hands off wild mushrooms?
• Which mushroom species are rare in BC? Which ones are northern in distribution or are southern in distribution?

IMPORTANT NOTE

This is not a specimen collection activity, but an observation one  Because so many mushrooms can be difficult to identify correctly, and because there are many poisonous species, you should never eat a wild mushroom. Mushrooms should be identified by experts  who are familiar with similar-looking species and can separate poisonous ones from edible ones. Eating wild mushrooms is not for beginners.

 

Page prepared by Adriana Briseno-Garzon, 2013