most numerous fungus around

tapinela · #1 (**permalink**) 08-10-2011, 07:48 PM

ive just seen a post on another forum, with a picture of rhytisma acerinum, saying it must be the most numerous fungus around,
given the fact that just about every fallen sycamore leaf seems to have several on it, that would seem to be about right to me,
anyone have any other views on this ?

tapinela

JAJ · #2 (**permalink**) 08-10-2011, 08:11 PM

Botrytis and Erysiphales (imperfect fungi) or Mildew would be more common perhaps. It all depends on whose looking.

Peace J

Chris Yeates · #3 (**permalink**) 09-10-2011, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAJ

Botrytis and Erysiphales (imperfect fungi) or Mildew would be more common perhaps. It all depends on whose looking.

Peace J

Erysiphales are actually not 'imperfect fungi'; Botrytis and other moulds are a good shout . . . . how about athlete's foot? or the yeasts in bread, beer and wine?

the chances are that the most common fungi are the ones you won't normally see (though you're probably breathing them in as you read this)

if you leave any collection - plant or fungus - for a few days you will very often find it contaminated with Cladosporium species

then there are the soil fungi which are only found if baited with human hair or similar; it's an impossible question to answer really - except that the answer is not Rhytisma acerinum

Chris

JAJ · #4 (**permalink**) 09-10-2011, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

the chances are that the most common fungi are the ones you won't normally see (though you're probably breathing them in as you read this) Chris

I like this ^^^. so truthful. peace

fairplay · #5 (**permalink**) 09-10-2011, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAJ

I like this ^^^. so truthful. peace

Spit it out JAJ, you must never 'eat' a single celled fungus until you have positively identified it.

Neil.

JAJ · #6 (**permalink**) 13-10-2011, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fairplay

Spit it out JAJ, you must never 'eat' a single celled fungus until you have positively identified it.

Neil.

I cant ,,they're all stuck to my tongue.. blur blur blur.. lol

Seriously still an interesting question. Those species of mycelium which coexist alongside Pinus (pine trees) in the Northern Hemisphere (mainly Boreal Forest / Tundra regions) constitute the largest living single biomass on the planet.

On track, which are the most common visible fruiting bodies (ones we can take images of)? I guess (newbie) this depends on the season and location one is looking in. For me it would be jelly ear on elder,, they are everywhere in season (even out of it)

Peace J

fairplay · #7 (**permalink**) 13-10-2011, 10:21 PM

This is a list of the top 100 most commonly recorded fungi as recorded by British Mycological Society members/recording groups.

Species with over 1000 records

Neil.

Edit: Even thought I've just come back from the pub, I make that list 158 or was it 168 ? Anyway, that's yer most common species.

JAJ · #8 (**permalink**) 14-10-2011, 07:57 PM

Nice post Neil

fairplay · #9 (**permalink**) 14-10-2011, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAJ

Nice post Neil

Thank the BMS, not me.

Neil.

Chris Yeates · #10 (**permalink**) 14-10-2011, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fairplay

This is a list of the top 100 most commonly recorded fungi . . . . . Anyway, that's yer most common species.

yes and no - these are the most commonly recorded fungi, but they are not 'yer most common species'

think about baker's and brewer's yeasts (actually the same species) - if everyone who ate some bread today, or drank an alcoholic drink, recorded it as a record of Saccharomyces cerevisiae it would knock the species on that BMS list into deep space . . . .

it's an impossible (and dare one say pointless?) question; the point that perhaps can be prised from it however is that humans recording fungi is an incredibly selective process and could never reflect actual frequency

Chris