Herbivore dung - Have a dung day!

[flaxton]

JP
Try http://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/files/WEB_Misc_Publ.pdf on this page you will find Richardson & Watling (1997) Keys to Fungi on Dung, new edn ISBN 0 9527704 23
This may help in sorting your finds.

Mal

[PMG]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

I think you would need high speed recording equipment to capture the actual moment.



I didn't realise sheep were so vindictive. I think I'll take your advice and keep the door shut.

Ken

Its not sheep you need to worry about................
Seriously my mate - I hope you are mending nicely

Pauline

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by monkey

if you decide on its identify definately please let me know.

Unfortunately, I think we have taken it as far as is possible from a photo.

Originally Posted by monkey

I have looked at a search of Conocybe and they all appear to have long stems this one was so short you could hardly see it so I am abit confused

You can't always tell how long the stem of a mushroom is without actually carefully picking it. Often the stem can be much longer than the visible part because it is hidden or buried in the substrate. That said, some species do typically have a short stem in comparison with the size of the cap.

You also need to remember that the photos in any field guide or on the web will only show a proportion of the possible number of species, and a very small proportion for a genus of little brown jobs like Conocybe, which not many field mycologists are keen to study, photograph and name accurately.

In fact with Conocybe, it used to be nice and easy because generally people lumped the majority of finds into just a couple of species - Conocybe tenera and Conocybe subovalis. Many of the early records are actually therefore wrong because a quick count on the Basidiomycota Checklist shows there are upwards of 60 species on the British list, many of which look remarkably similar to the pictures in the books of Conocybe tenera.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by PMG

Seriously my mate - I hope you are mending nicely

Pauline

Still over 4 weeks to go with the cast on my leg.

Once I can ditch the crutches things will be a lot easier.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by flaxton

JP
Try http://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/files/WEB_Misc_Publ.pdf on this page you will find Richardson & Watling (1997) Keys to Fungi on Dung, new edn ISBN 0 9527704 23
This may help in sorting your finds.

Mal

I used an earlier edition in my own study but it didn't really help in getting down to species.

I'm waiting for the day you can scan these little jobs into your computer with a hand-held scanner and then a software package does all the hard work of identifying them for you...

... but I may have a long wait.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by Leif

I wonder if it is possible to manage an area of wood land or pasture in order to increase the yield of certain fungi?

I think the answer is probably that no-one really knows, particularly with mycorrhizal species. I've not seen any literature which gives detailed advice on what to do to increase the yield - unless of course you are talking about wood rotting species, when leaving lots of dead wood around is obviously beneficial.

There are publications which suggest what not to do to avoid reducing the yield, particularly with high profile groups like waxcaps. Here the advice is all about not changing the management too much on sites that are already productive eg keep the grass grazed but not too short to avoid poaching, don't add artificial fertiliser, don't plough it up (obviously) etc.

I guess if anyone knows how to increase the productivity of their local patch of edibles they are probably keeping it to themselves.

Ken

[flaxton]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

I used an earlier edition in my own study but it didn't really help in getting down to species.

I'm waiting for the day you can scan these little jobs into your computer with a hand-held scanner and then a software package does all the hard work of identifying them for you...

... but I may have a long wait.

Ken

They are already able to take DNA from a soil sample and say this soil has "Boletus edulis Boletus impolitus and a Boletus that has never been found yet" in the it
so the DNA probe may not be that far away.
Keep an eye on EBAY

Mal

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Fungus Ken

I'm waiting for the day you can scan these little jobs into your computer with a hand-held scanner and then a software package does all the hard work of identifying them for you...

... but I may have a long wait.

Ken

Considering what some people get up to with photocopiers and the like ... I don't think we have too long to wait

As for software .. Surely you must have a copy of scan poo plus! The Pro version incorporates OCR which narrows results down to genus level

John

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by flaxton

... so the DNA probe may not be that far away.
Keep an eye on EBAY

Mal

Bring it on, I say.

Ken

[Fungus Ken]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Surely you must have a copy of scan poo plus!

Unfortunately I'm not sure the plumbing on my laptop is up to it. I wouldn't want to clog up my pipes, or whatever it is these computers have under the dashboard. (Forgive me if my IT jargon is getting a bit too technical here.)

Ken