This issue is devoted entirely to that favorite Creationist shibboleth, the evolution of the eye. Much good stuff awaits those who seize the opportunity to download, download, download.
A hyphal tip to Genomicron for news of this great freebie.
It's hard to believe that another year has flown by, but it's once again time for the Mycological Society of San Francisco's annual Bay Area Fungus Fair at the Oakland Museum of California. The San Francisco Chronicle's description of the event contains a line that probably comes closest to my own sentiments about it:
Wake up and smell the spores, people! It's finally, finally, finally time again for the unutterably fabulous Bay Area Fungus Fair...The fair starts today and only runs through the weekend. This is the event that turned me into a mycologist; it marks a kind of anniversary for me. I wish I could be there this year!
December 6-7, 2008If you're within 100 miles of Oakland, CA and you've never been to this event before, today's a great day to check it out for the first time. I've been around a few fungi, but the Bay Area Fungus Fair is the premier event for those who want to check out and learn about the incredibly diversity, beauty and even downright weirdness of one of this most unusual kingdom.
Fungus & Fire
39th Annual Fungus Fair
After a forest fire, what is the first sign of life?
Fungi. Their tiny root-like fibers appear on the charred forest floor and begin to break down debris and release nutrients into the soil. This age-old process is crucial to soil restoration and the forest's revival.
Learn about the noble lives of mushrooms at the museum's annual Fungus Fair—Fungus & Fire, Saturday, Dec 6 (10 a.m.–6 p.m.) and Sunday, Dec 7 (12-5 p.m.). The fair explores the role of fungi and mushrooms in the aftermath of California's devastating forest fires...
Romania has decided to duck behind an Iron Age curtain. The nation's schools have stopped teaching evolutionary biology and instead requires students to attend compulsory religious instruction classes. Previously, students were taught about evolution at age 18 or 19, in itself an entirely inadequate requirement if they are expected to understand biology.
Romania removes theory of evolution from school curriculumAt last, the world has its Creationist, anti-science, anti-intellectual paradise. The "academic freedom" crowd should be most pleased; unfettered by church-state separation, the educational systems of places like Florida, Texas and Kentucky would look quite like that of Romania.
Romania's withdrawal of the theory of evolution from the school curriculum could be evidence of a growing conservative tendency in teaching. Evolution has been removed from the school curriculum in a move which, pressure groups argue, distorts children's understanding of how the world came into being.
Meanwhile, religious studies classes continue to tell Romanian children that God made the world in seven days.
The theory of the Origin of Species and the evolution of humans is no longer present in the compulsory curriculum, through a nationwide decision made under the previous Government in 2006. Before the change, Darwin's theory was taught to pupils aged 18 or 19 years old...
Meanwhile, in religious classes, pupils are taught that the world was created in seven days and God made plants on the third day and the sun on the fourth. Textbooks claim the first man was Adam, who was 'made of ground', and that Eve, the first woman, was made from one of her husband's ribs.
"The Romanian state, whether it intends or not, offers pupils a unique perspective on the world, the religious one, without any critical scientific or philosophical offset," argues [Remus Cernea, president of Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience]...
Biology has been cut from two hours to one of teaching per week for the final two years in many high schools...
"Kids find out what really happened from the Discovery channel," she adds. "They don't really believe the world was made in six days. Well, I hope they don't..."
At present, children are taught religious classes from ages seven to 18. This is mostly an Orthodox curriculum. They are also taught that to sleep in on Sunday mornings is bad because children should be going to church.
"It's not being taught about religion and what it means," said one headmistress. If a parent wants their child not to attend the classes, because they are, for example, Jewish, Muslim or agnostic, he or she has to draft a letter to the school. The child then sits in a library or the head teacher's office working on, say, maths or languages.
But there are new proposals to make all religious classes compulsory for the education system, regardless of the parents' wishes. All children who do not want to attend Religion classes would attend a Moral and Religious Education class...
Psalm 100:1-3 is very relevant to this discussion:Wouldn't Romania be the perfect place for someone like McElroy? His "intelligent design," a couple of fancy words swapped for Creationism, is perfectly in keeping with the theology that has now fully eclipsed education in that country, and it would certainly be better for America to put that particular Texan in Romania than it would be for Texas to wind up looking just like Romania.Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands
Serve the Lord with gladness,
Come before his presence was singing,
Know ye that the LORD he is God:
It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
(Notice, that this Psalm is address to "all you lands", i.e. all the nations, i.e. all people. This Psalm is not addressed solely to Israel. I don't believe there's a more emphatic, concise statement in the Scriptures than this that refutes the idea of evolution—"and not we ourselves"; and it is written to all people. And what is their response to be? It is to "Know ye that the LORD he is God".)
Also, in Job 38-41 we have an entire speech by God himself, where he articulates the Truth that Naturalism is false and he created all things.— Source: Intelligent Design 2nd Session, Don McElroy, February 6, 2005
Current research being done at the University of Ohio seems to indicate that specific compounds found in marijuana could protect short-term memory in the brains of older mammals — at least rats. A synthetic analog of tetrahydrocannabinol may act on brain cells in the hippocampus, a brain structure responsible for short-term memory, to prompt generation of new cells and reduce inflammation that interferes with normal functioning. The trick is that once impairment has already begun, it can't be reversed.
Scientists are high on idea that marijuana reduces memory impairmentImmoral? What makes getting high immoral?
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The more research they do, the more evidence Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.
The research suggests that the development of a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer's remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impairment.
Any new drug's properties would resemble those of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, but would not share its high-producing effects. THC joins nicotine, alcohol and caffeine as agents that, in moderation, have shown some protection against inflammation in the brain that might translate to better memory late in life.
"It's not that everything immoral is good for the brain. It's just that there are some substances that millions of people for thousands of years have used in billions of doses, and we're noticing there's a little signal above all the noise," said Gary Wenk, professor of psychology at Ohio State and principal investigator on the research.
Wenk's work has already shown that a THC-like synthetic drug can improve memory in animals. Now his team is trying to find out exactly how it works in the brain.
"When we're young, we reproduce neurons and our memory works fine. When we age, the process slows down, so we have a decrease in new cell formation in normal aging. You need those cells to come back and help form new memories, and we found that this THC-like agent can influence creation of those cells," said Yannick Marchalant, a study coauthor and research assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State...Wait... if it might work to simply use the real thing, why not just let 'em do it? Why do we need to develop a synthetic drug that will undoubtedly cost a lot more? If it's the smoking part (after all, inhaling particulate matter is never a good idea) that's bad, make brownies. Sugar-free, low-fat and loaded up up omega 3 oils, of course. Wouldn't some healthy pot brownies be more affordable than pills?"Could people smoke marijuana to prevent Alzheimer's disease if the disease is in their family? We're not saying that, but it might actually work. What we are saying is it appears that a safe, legal substance that mimics those important properties of marijuana can work on receptors in the brain to prevent memory impairments in aging. So that's really hopeful," Wenk said.
..the researchers also determined that WIN acts on receptors known as CB1 and CB2, leading to the generation of new brain cells – a process known as neurogenesis. Those results led the scientists to speculate that the combination of lowered inflammation and neurogenesis is the reason the rats' memory improved after treatment with WIN.Well heck, you guys are no fun.
The researchers are continuing to study the endocannabinoid system's role in regulating inflammation and neuron development. They are trying to zero in on the receptors that must be activated to produce the most benefits from any newly developed drug.
What they already know is THC alone isn't the answer.
"The end goal is not to recommend the use of THC in humans to reduce Alzheimer's," Marchalant said. "We need to find exactly which receptors are most crucial, and ideally lead to the development of drugs that specifically activate those receptors. We hope a compound can be found that can target both inflammation and neurogenesis, which would be the most efficient way to produce the best effects."
This time, researchers have found the fossilized remains of a 164 million year old turtle in Scotland. The turtle is the earliest known aquatic form but still bears many of the traits of completely terrestrial species. Dubbed Eileanchelys waldmani, the new species fills the "gap" between the heavy-boned terrestrial turtles known from Triassic Period and the aquatic forms known from the Jurassic.
Ancient turtle discovered on SkyeThat God in the gaps must be very skinny to keep up with all of the shrinking going on. We get a new "transitional" fossil every few months. Dinosaur feathers, 52 million year old bat ancestors, fish/quadruped intermediates, frogamanders... the alleged gaps keep closing, the supposedly missing links keep turning up, and the paleontological evidence supporting various evolutionary theories mounts regularly.
By James Morgan, Science reporter, BBC News
The 164 million-year-old reptile fossils were found on a beach in southern Skye, off the UK's west coast.
The new species forms a missing link between ancient terrestrial turtles and their modern, aquatic descendants.
The discovery of Eileanchelys waldmani... is reported in the Royal Society journals.
The turtles were found embedded in a block of rock at the bay of Cladach a'Ghlinne, on the Strathaird peninsula.
It contained four well-preserved turtle skeletons, and the remnants of at least two others...
The historic specimens are now being housed in the National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh.
They were uncovered by a team from London's Natural History Museum and University College London (UCL)...
"It is part of a new revision we are having about turtle evolution."
The new species helps bridge a 65 million-year gap in the story - between the terrestrial "basal" turtles, from the late Triassic, and the aquatic "crown-group" turtles of the late Jurassic.
The former were "heavy-built" land-dwellers, with skulls which were "more reptilian", says Mr Anquetin.
The latter were lighter, and closer in appearance to the aquatic, freshwater turtles we know today.
What happened in between was a mystery, until very recently.
In the last two years, fossils of three new turtle species, all dating to to the Middle Jurassic, have been discovered in Russia, Argentina, and now Scotland...
On the outside, E. waldmani would resemble a modern freshwater turtle - "like the ones you can buy in the pet shop", says Mr Anquetin...
"The differences are on the inside - in the cranial anatomy. They are small differences but very important. There is no other turtle like this one..."
Their findings are reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
"This new turtle is very exciting", said Dr Walter Joyce, an expert in turtle evolution, formerly of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University.
"Keep in mind that a 65 million year gap used to exist in the fossil record between the oldest known turtles from the Late Triassic and basically modern turtles in the Late Jurassic.
"The new turtle is really quite spectacular in preservation, considering that several complete skeletons are preserved, instead of the usual scrap that has to be pieced together..."
Framingham State College kicks off its Year of Darwin series next week with Judge John Jones, who will be speaking at the Dwight Performing Arts Center at 7:00 PM. Jones, you will recall, presided over the Dover, PA case (Kitzmiller v. Dover) in which the advocates of Intelligent Design Creationism were slapped upside their pointy little heads by the conservative Reagan appointee. Remember that one? The one where the Discovery Institute slinked away with its tail between its legs at the last minute and Michael Behe came off the witness stand smelling like a septic tank? Yeah, I thought you did.
Jones will, of course, be discussing the Dover case and why Intelligent Design isn't science. That's a week from today — November 30, 7:00 PM. Admission is a measly $5.
Future speakers in the series include Daniel Dennett (February 12) and Sean Carroll (March 31).
Just for the record, I would like it known that the 3-4mm long diaperine beetles lumped together into the species Neomida bicornis are stinky stupid-heads and I don't want to play with them anymore.
What can I say after that deeply professional and scientific appraisal? Well, I can offer up this Gel of the Day as evidence of my contentions:
The first two lanes are 28S and 5.8S nuclear ribosomal subunits and the third is cox1 from Neomida bicornis. The last three are the same genes from a positive control, Bolitotherus cornutus. Everything else is, of course, the same. The same aliquots of primers, the same Taq polymerase, the same dNTPs, the same thermocycler protocol.
Now, if this were the first time I'd gotten a result like this, it would be no problem. And, in fact, it wasn't a problem four attempts ago. This gel is my fifth attempt at getting these sequences! I've tried tweaking everything I can think of with my existing protocol, but nothing changes the result. My next step will be to use a forensic DNA extraction and amplification kit, which I've been trying not to do because of the expense involved.
If not for the fact that I have some evidence that N. bicornis is more than one species, I would have given up on this by now. The thing is, it's worth it to me because part of my research has to do with the evolution of host specificity and I've collected this beetle from four different fungi now. Not only is the coloration different in these populations, but there are more subtle morphological differences as well (for example, the proportions of the tarsomeres of the metatarsi). I've also used the large subunit sequences from two populations — one from Ganoderma lucidum in Florida and one from Pycnoporus cinnibarinus in Massachusetts — in a molecular phylogenetic analysis and guess what... they turn out to fall into two separate clades with 99% bootstrap support in a neighbor-joining tree after 500 replications. In other words, they're taxonomically classified as a single species, but considering how slowly this sequence evolves it's highly unlikely that they really are. I need to get the more rapidly-evolving cox1 sequence to clinch this, along with analyzing a few more populations and I can't get the damned thing.
What a tease.
I mean, just look...
If I had hair, I'd be pulling it out right now. I can take or leave the small subunit, but I must have the cox1 sequence.
OK, that's it, "Neomida bicornis," if that is your real name. You've pushed me too far. Next time you see me on the street, you'd better run. I'm gonna be packing Raid.
And this is what I look like while I'm dissecting beetles. My adviser thinks it's a "good look for me." Am I a geek yet?
Yeah, yeah.
I was in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad on the day that Dubya came on the airwaves and announced that the development of new stem cell lines was to be banned in the United States. He did this by executive order, a sort of edict open to presidents that Bush exploited to an extent unprecedented in American history. In any case, I remember where I was when the Dubya delivered his proclamation because it was a big deal to me at the time. It still is.
President-elect Barack Obama's transition chief said Sunday the incoming administration is looking to reverse President George W. Bush's executive orders on stem cell research...It comes as good news, then, that Dubya's executive order is under review by the incoming administration. While it's not a done deal yet, Obama has stated in the past that he favored expanding stem cell research. If he comes through and reverses the standing executive order after taking office, the result could well be a boon not only to the treatment of injury and disease in the long run, but to American competitiveness in biotechnology in the short run. We've been losing out on both of these fronts for the sake of preserving discarded, frozen embryos for seven years now. Luckily, the research has continued in other countries and much of it is a matter of published record.
Bush has limited federal spending on stem cell research, a position championed by opponents of abortion rights. Obama has supported the research in an effort to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's...— Source
...the fungus can grow on cellulose, which contains huge amounts of hydrocarbon but is notoriously difficult to break down.In other words, it might be possible to culture G. roseum in industrial-sized vats of medium made from waste paper products and covert that waste into relatively cheap energy while reducing carbon emissions. More research needs to be done to determine how economically this can be done.
"It's the most abundant organic compound produced on earth, but most of it goes to waste," says [discoverer Gary] Strobel. By fermenting the fungus on cellulose, it should be possible to generate huge quantities of the diesel vapour "ready-for-use".
I'm proud to note that I've added numerous points to my geek cred scale recently by purchasing a copy of EA/Maxis' computer game, Spore. I haven't had much time to play it, but I have managed to take a species of mine all the way to the galactic phase. My little critters, the Shub, are gleefully jetting about the galaxy, although their home world, Mloukhiye, is currently under attack. You can see a Shub there on the right. Cute, no?
I like Spore. It's a fun little game, and that's all it is. I wouldn't dream of using it as a tool with which to instruct students about evolutionary biology for a very simple reason; it's nothing like evolutionary biology. It lacks most of the mechanisms that we see driving evolution in the real world. There's no random mutation in Spore, for instance. Nor is there sexual selection, genetic drift or gene flow. In fact, Spore is essentially The Sims with characters that aren't necessarily human or even human-like. In the real world, species don't jump from being cells to having legs because they eat enough bits of nutrient floating in liquid medium. They don't grow bigger brains because they sing duets with other organisms. The real world simply doesn't work like Spore. In other words, Spore isn't evidence for or against any empirical principle. It is, after all, just a fun little game.
That, of course, isn't going to stop the ID Creationism contingent from advancing the notion that this bit of electronic fluff from Electronic Arts somehow supports their notion of how the diversity of life arose on the planet. They are not, after all, under the constraint of testing hypotheses, nor even of rudimentary common sense, because the vacuous nonsense they assert as a theory (proving that they're not even under the constraint of English usage) is just that — vacuous. They could as easily maintain that the existence of pie is evidence that prayer has the power to turn the head purple. We are thus treated to platters of blather such as an article in The Christian Post in which Casey Luskin, better known to sentient beings everywhere as Captain Clownie, yammers on about how a computer game is evidence of, and teaches users about, his favorite content-free fairy tale:
'Spore' Game Helps Players Understand Intelligent DesignLet's pause right here for a moment. In Spore, players do not "evolve" their creatures, they edit their creatures. There's a big difference here. See, you have to click this little button and a new window opens. The player then spends a few "DNA points" to buy arms and legs and eyes which they choose from a menu on the left side of the screen. That isn't evolution by any definition, of course. Is it intelligent design? Sure, assuming that the player isn't a member of the Discovery Institute, barring appropriate use of the word "intelligent" in this context. However, is it evidence for what Luskin and his Creationist clown car assert? Is this how the designer designs? Is he constrained by a budget of DNA points amassed by creatures eating blobs of algae? Well, the truth is... I don't know. Since one of the assertions these numbskulls make is that we can't know anything about their designer (whom, for the sake of simplicity, I'll refer to as Bob the Builder henceforth), he could be clicking away at a menu on some celestial computer somewhere and we could all be nothing more than critters in a pangalactic Sporepedia. However, I am unaware of the proponents of ID ever having advanced this notion beforehand... which, for their purposes, is just fine, since their vacuity isn't constrained by the requirement of predictiveness, anyhow. Unlike real scientists, IDolators are free to make it up as they go along. Everything they do is ad hoc.
Fans of a video game about evolution include young Christian teenagers and intelligent design proponents
By Katherine T. Phan
Christian Post Reporter
While the latest video-game craze, "Spore," touts the theory of evolution, taking gamers from a single-celled organism to complex civilizations, some say it also promotes God and intelligent design...
Players start the game with the task of feeding a single-cellular amoeba that eventually lays an egg after it has consumed enough blob-like nutrients in its 2-D world. The egg allows gamers to edit their simple organism into a more complex creature - with seven legs, one eye and purple skin if they so desired.
At each egg stage, players can further "evolve" their creatures to have different body structures, physical capabilities and even bigger brains – all of which affect the creatures' abilities and personalities in the game...
"Anyone can see that Spore is not really about evolution by the Darwinian mechanism; it's about evolution by intelligent design," Casey Luskin with Discovery Institute, a leading intelligent design think tank, wrote on the group's affiliated blog Evolution News & View...Well-played, Captain! I agree entirely; anyone who knows anything about evolutionary biology can see that Spore is not about evolution by Darwinian mechanisms, nor by any other mechanisms seen in the real world. The thing is, so what? Computer games routinely violate the laws of physics; one might just as well state that Super Mario Brothers isn't about quantum mechanics. See, entertainment devices don't always seek to replicate the real world and Spore is not a teaching tool. It isn't science. It's a computer game from which precisely zero lessons about the universe in which we (by which I do not mean to necessarily include Captain Clownie and the Funtime Gang over at the DI) actually exist. In truth, Spore is about neither evolutionary biology nor about religiously-derived "alternative theories." It's about having a bit of fun.
The game even refutes many Darwinist objections to I.D., argued Luskin, including one objection that says detecting design requires knowledge about the designer.I'm unfamiliar with the argument that Luskin says we "Darwinists" bring up in regard to IDiocy. I am, however, familiar with two arguments that he may have crammed together here. The first is that if design is present, it should be detectable and the second is that if there is a designer present the designer should also be detectable and because that designer can be observed, even indirectly, it absolutely follows that we could say something about the nature of that designer based upon how Bob the Builder designs. We could infer, for instance, what kind of design regime it follows, what sorts of tools Bob uses, etc., all of which perforce tell us something about this veiled designer.
"Browsing on YouTube I can find hundreds if not thousands of Spore creatures that were designed by people whose real names, parents' names, and tribes of origin I know nothing about. We don't have to know who the designer is, or who spawned the designer, to be able to detect design," wrote Luskin...
Benjamin Cormack, writing on the gaming Website GotGame.com suggested Spore may even help players understand, in a small way, the heart of God.Well, that's a very long way from Captain Clownie's assertion that it isn't necessary to infer anything about Bob the Builder, isn't it? Cormack is certainly saying something about God (and, after all, that's precisely who Bob the Builder really is!) Of course, it's also a tremendous leap of logic and certainly a category error. It's based on a major statement about the nature of the designer — this designer has human emotions and, not only that, applies them in an entirely human way. Bob the Builder forms attachments to the things it creates.
"As you guide and care for your creations, you may actually develop an almost parental sense of pride in watching them grow, kind of like children or sea monkeys," he wrote...
I haven't had much free time since returning from Florida, hence the lack of updates here. My schedule this semester is rather packed. For instance, on Thursdays I have two hours of open time between 10 AM and 9 PM which I will be using to eat. It will all work out, but it will also take a couple of weeks for me to get settled into this new calendar. As it stands right now, though, I haven't even had the chance to edit my photos from the trip.
I have, however, finished identifying the beetle specimens to the extent I've been able without molecular work. It's not a bad collection for under a week's time, and a couple of the species are of particular interest for reasons I'll mention below.
Megalodacne heros is without doubt the most visually spectacular of the bunch. It's one of the largest (if not the largest) of the Erotylidae and quite a colorful insect. I collected four specimens from the pore surface of Ganoderma applanatum, which is not nearly so common in Florida as it is in cooler climates. In Florida, it seems to be replaced by species in the Ganoderma lucidum complex. I didn't find M. heros on any other fungi, including the numerous G. applanatum specimens I saw in the field. That might be chance, of course.
A teneb mimic of M. heros, Platydema ellipticus, was also collected from the pore surface of Phellinus gilvus. While this beetle is substantially smaller than Megalodacne, it has what I suspect is aposematic coloration. That is to say, natural selection has favored individuals with markings similar to the larger and more toxic erotylid in this particular teneb. Five specimens of this insect came back with me.
Platydema nigratum is a close relative of the above. It doesn't have much going for it in terms of coloration, but this is an exciting find for me for two reasons. First, the habitat of this beetle is uncertain. I can say definitively that I collected it from between fruiting bodies of Stereum ostrea, and I watched one specimen chewing on that fungus. I have no doubt at all that it is a fungivore and macrophagous at that. Second, the larva of this species isn't described in the literature. I recovered a specimen of what I believe will turn out to be a larval P. nigratum from within the fleshy base of a relatively large S. ostrea sporophore. Once I've sequenced both adult and larva I should be able to connect the two definitively.
I collected numerous specimens of Neomida bicornis from two fungi. I first found them inside the same G. applanatum sporophores that had Megalodacne on their surface. I found specimens again several days later living in the context of Trametes elegans, a particularly fleshy member of the same genus that contains the ubiquitous turkey tail, T. versicolor. An interesting thing happened when I collected N. bicornis from that fungus that I wish I had noticed in the field. When I first started collecting, I found six specimens and put them in a microtube. Then I noticed additional galleries and collected fourteen more specimens in a second tube. When I brought them all back to the lab, it turned out that all six specimens in the first tube were male and all fourteen in the second were female. The probability of this happening purely by chance is so small that it suggests to me that males and females were segregated for some reason at the moment that I found the insects. I know nothing about the behavior of N. bicornis; I doubt that anyone has really investigated it. Also, it's worth noting that the specimens from Florida are very, very different from what's called N. bicornis in New England, which I've collected from Pycnoporus cinnibarinus at Wachusett. The Floridian specimens have an orange prothorax and males have straight horns. The New England version is dark metallic green and the male's horns are slightly curved. There's a chance, I think, that the two are really two different species and, indeed, I don't find any sequences for Neomida in EntrezGene other than one for a basidiomycete yeast from its gut discovered by Suh and Blackwell. I'm looking forward to pulling sequences from the northern and southern "morphs." If they do turn out to be two different species, I think I get to name one of them. The two insects look so different that I find it hard to believe they could be the same species.
I also found a second Neomida, N. ferruginea, in the context of a second G. applanatum sporophore. I only recovered one specimen of this rather drab little teneb, though. When I eventually do the phylogeny from the genus, I suspect that this beetle will be more closely related to the southern "morph" of N. bicornis than it is to the one from New England. That's just a hunch, of course.
Of course, no teneb hunting expedition would be complete without the recovery of a couple of specimens of Bolitotherus cornutus. I collected specimens of the widely-distributed beetle from both G. applanatum (the same cluster of fruiting bodies above) and G. lucidum on this trip. B. cornutus seems to be the most successful of the larger fungus-dependent tenebs of North America based on my experience. I can hardly help but find the insects whenever I search polypores. The genus, and in fact the whole tribe, is quite small as compared to other teneb tribes, but Bolitotherus seems to be the champ in sheer numbers. Having some specimens from Florida will give me the chance to eventually compare sequences from specimens from three states. Perhaps I'll someday investigate population genetic structure in this insect, which doesn't get around much but seems to be everywhere.
I also have a couple of specimens that I haven't been able to identify beyond family yet, including a few of what are probably Nitidulidae but are potentially Leiodidae, too. I'm hoping for the former, though. Nitidulidae seems to be a family with taxa in transition between feeding on the sap from tree wounds and living on the polypores that grow from those wounds. Most beetle families have hind feet with five segments (tarsomeres). Tenebrionidae, which I've hypothesized to be primitively macrofungivorous, have only four. Nitidulidae still have five, but many species in the family have a markedly decreased fourth tarsomere, so one can imagine a scenario in which the transition from living on the surface of a fungus and eating the hymenium (Erotylidae) leaves the beetles with five tarsomeres, there's a transitional state in which the fourth (or other) tarsomere is reduced as the beetles begin to tunnel into the fungi (Nitidulidae) and, ultimately, the tarsomere is lost entirely over time as a fully fungus-exploiting lifestyle is adopted (Tenebrionidae).
One of the fungi I collected also turned out to be an unusual specimen. A glossy, brown, trametes-like, sessile thing with subdaedaloid pores turned out to be the tropical Nigroporus vinosus. Nobody in my lab has seen it before. One of the ongoing projects in the lab is the exploration of wood-decaying fungi (N. vinosus is a white-rotter) for use in bioremediation. It may be worthwhile to mount another trip to look for unusual species to be cultured in this regard, too. We'll see about that. I'm planning on going back again at some point, anyhow, and perhaps swinging around the Gulf Coast a bit in the future to sample both polypores and beetles from more climes. I've barely scratched the surface here, after all.
Clearly, I've got a ton of work to do, and I haven't even really started yet... hence my absence from the blogosphere of late. Rest assured, though, that situation is only temporary. I have no intention of disappearing just yet!
Today is the last day that I will be here in Florida. The field work has been productive for both myself and my colleague. Each day has begun with our getting up no later than 6 AM, eating breakfast and getting out to the field before 8 AM in hopes of escaping the heat for a little while. That last part hasn't really worked, of course, because this is North Florida in early September we're talking about. A bank sign that gave the temperature in Tallahassee read 100° by the time we came in from the field yesterday.
I've collected numerous specimens of Tenebrionidae, Tetratomidae and Erotylidae. Already winging their way back to Massachusetts are such critters as Platydema ellipticus, Megalodacne heros, Neomida bicornis (the Florida morph, which has an orange prothorax — and which I suspect isn't actually the same species as the Northeastern N. bicornis), and Penthe obliquata. All in all, I've collected at least seven species for which I previously had no specimens and possibly more. I'll be able to better sort this out once I've gotten back to the lab in Worcester. I suspect the final total will be closer to ten. The specimens should be getting back there on Wednesday, and I'll be getting back on Thursday.
As for today, we're going to take care of some housekeeping. My field companion needs to get some water from within a pitcher plant back to her lab in order to culture the yeasts therein. Then we're going to do laundry; sweaty clothes accumulate quickly in this part of the world. After that, we'll play tourist for a bit and see the Florida Caverns in Marianna.
Don't get the impression that this trip has been all work. We've had time in the evenings to hang around with our gracious hosts, toss back a few beers and consume more than our fair share of oysters. It's been quite nice to see a few friends here in Tallahassee for the first time in over a year and also quite remarkable how well my mycological compatriot has fit in with them. She's generally an agreeable sort, of course, as long as one doesn't get between her and her oysters. The woman is a whirlwind of cocktail sauce and spent shells when the things are set before her; one could easily lose an intrusive hand!
I've been studiously avoiding mention of all things non-biological this week and no doubt have a ton of catching up to do on the latest in religious lunacies and electoral nincompooperies, and I could try to write a more detailed entry about this trip. I may still do that over the next few days as time permits. There will soon be photos as well. For now, though, I have to admit that as much as I've enjoyed the company of fellow science geeks and friends here in Florida, I'm feeling just a little bit lazy today. I'll neither be catching up with news nor editing photos today.
I'm also ready to get back home to LL. She's one of the very few things in this world I find even more interesting than a beetle-infested polyporoid fungus, truth be told. Yes, that's actually a compliment, and she's probably the only woman who knows me well enough to understand just how big of one it is.
For now, I'm going to step outside and get my first few breaths of the muggy morning air.
The date has at last been set for local biologists and naturalists to begin the surveying of Moreland Woods in an effort to catalog species on behalf of the Greater Worcester Land Trust. Everyone involved in the effort can't make it there the same day, so &e and I will be taking a look at fungi and Coleoptera on Tuesday in the company of perhaps one or two other investigators. Others will be at the site on Wednesday and Thursday while I'm in Florida.
The site is in the northern part of the city (map), bounded by Moreland Street to the north and west and by Old Brook Drive to the east. I have only a vague notion of what might be in there and whether any of it will justify use of a grant to protect the place, but we'll find out soon.
The American Society for Microbiology's Moselio Schaechter has dedicated this week's blogging at Small Things Considered to articles about fungi. So far, three of the five promised articles have appeared:
The excellent microbiology blog Small Things Considered is celebrating the beginning of mushroom collecting season with a weeks worth of fungal posts.Which comes as a bit of news to we hardcore collectors who've been tromping through the woods since April! If anyone who thinks August is the beginning of collecting season is wondering why they aren't finding any of the good stuff, it's because I've already collected it all.
Due to a backlog of lab work in the face of the upcoming semester and the fact that I'll be doing field work in Florida all next week, there will be no Wachusett Wednesday this week. As perfect as the weather is and as much as I will miss this part of my weekly routine, I must put my priorities elsewhere over the next few days.
It's hard to believe that summer has come and gone so quickly, but the fact is that this is the last week before the fall semester begins. I will once again be teaching two lab sections for Introductory Biology this semester. As much as I enjoy teaching (although honesty compels me to admit that I'm not too fond of grading), this essentially means that there will be some combination of a reduction of my research time and late nights at the lab. The classroom portion of my teaching assistantship alone entails six hours each week. Add in grading, office hours, lab setup and miscellaneous issues that arise and a day disappears from my schedule. Additionally, I will be auditing an entomology course at another local university this semester; that adds up to about another six hours each week. It's going to be another very busy semester. With this in mind, I'm trying to spend the rest of this week tying up a bunch of loose ends.
A week from today, of course, I leave for the North Florida field expedition. The loss of my Wednesday on the mountain this week helps to relieve the pressure that a full week out of town will create. On the other hand, all of the planning for that trip has continued to come together very well. The biology faculty at Florida State has been exceedingly accommodating to this alumnus. My colleague and I have been furnished with laboratory space in the new biology building and the head of the university's herbarium has allowed us use of the dehydration equipment for the preservation of specimens. I still need to set up temporary accounts at FSU so that we'll have computer access from the lab.
Florida's DEP and parks management have also been incredibly helpful. In fact, I feel compelled to write a thank you to state biologist Harold Mitchell here. He has been a tremendous help in making the upcoming trip possible and interacting with him has been a pleasure. Moreover, the park managers at both Torreya and Lake Talquin State Parks have likewise been kind enough to provide my colleague and I with free and open access to their land anytime we wish, even going so far as to give us the combinations to open the gates to our sites before regular hours so that we can start as early as we like in order to beat the heat as much as possible in the Big Bend/Panhandle in early September.
Wachusett Wednesday has become one of this blog's most popular recurring features, so to readers who will miss it this week, all I can say is that it's a trade off. Wait until you see what's popping up in Florida this time of year. With the recent and unfortunate stormy weather, I expect that you'll be seeing a bumper crop of amazing and beautiful fungi in this space in the coming week.
On the other hand, Gel of the Day fans (because some people just can't get enough electrophoresis) will get a second, and quite possibly third, installment this week as I attempt to sequence a Ganoderma in the G. lucidum complex whose morphology alone hasn't been enough to provide a positive identification. I also intend to do the same with a sap beetle (Nitidulidae) collected earlier from Laetiporus sulphureus; while not in my core family, I've noticed something interesting about its foot that makes me think that having molecular data from these insects will be informative about one of the evolutionary hypotheses in my study. Markedly reduced fourth tarsomere, anyone? I have so far been unable to adequately resolve the genus of this beetle, though, and genetic sequencing should clarify the picture. Agarose lovers, rejoice!
In the words of Willie Wonka, "So much time, so little to do! Strike that. Reverse it."
Sometimes, a perfectly good gel gets funkified in the process of handling. I think that's what happened with this gel, which was otherwise indicative of a near-perfect PCR:
The specimens in this case were three adult and one larval Bolitotherus cornutus which I collected at the MSA foray in Pennsylvania on August 10. The last eight lanes, 25-32, are from the larva. I haven't successfully sequenced a larva before; maybe my dissection technique is improving. The cox1 bands (31) look a bit weak, but the product should do for sequencing.
If you're familiar with electrophoresis gels or have at least been peeking at previous gels of the day, you're probably asking about now, "Mike, what the heck happened to lanes 21, 22 and 27?"
Well, I'll tell you. In order to take this photo using a UV light, I have to remove the gel from the casting tray, put it in a weigh boat and take it to a dark room upstairs from my lab. In the process of transferring the gel from tray to boat to camera, it gets a little scrape over an edge or two. This time, for whatever reason, that caused the bands in three lanes to get smeared. Nonetheless, there are bands there and since they are duplicates from two different dilutions (as far as specimen and gene go, 21=17, 22=18 and 27=31), it's not a problem.
Also, every fourth well is a control; there shouldn't be anything there. There seems to be a very faint band in lane 4, but it's nothing to worry about. I may just try and sequence it to see what the contamination is, since the position of that band is unlike that of any of the legitimate bands on this gel. I suspect that the culprit is a dirty microtube; if my primers, buffers, etc. had been contaminated, I would expect to see that phantom band in all of the control lanes.
The reason I'm running another batch of B. cornutus is that these are the first specimens I've collected from a site outside of Massachusetts. It's worth looking at them just to see if there are any polymorphisms present in introns in the sequences I'm analyzing.
I also read a very interesting paper today:
Leschen RAB and TR Buckley. 2007. Multistate characters and diet shifts: evolution of Erotylidae (Coleoptera). Systematic Biology 56(1):97-112. DOI: 10.1080/10635150701211844.It's very much relevant to my own research. In this paper, Leschen and Buckley analyze the evolution of Erotylidae, a family of beetles only distantly related to the family I'm studying, and link their hyperdiversity to a shift to a diet of macrofungi. It sounds rather familiar, no? It's a very interesting read if you're into this sort of thing. It's based on morphology, not molecular biology, and finds a good link between diet and the external reproductive structure (gonocoxa and ovipositor) of Coleopteran females. Mycologists (at least those with an interest in basidiomycetes) and coleopterists alike will undoubtedly find something of interest in the paper. Enjoy.
While examining the insect, taking measurements and such, I dropped it on the black-speckled linoleum floor. I then spent about 20 minutes crawling around looking for the thing. You have no idea how quickly a tiny, dark-colored beetle can disappear, and it's the only one I've recovered so far. Since it's in Diaperinae, is apparently a context tunneler and doesn't damage the hymenium, it may prove to be an important data point for my overall work. Next week, I'll sequence it and see if it has a mutation in common with it's relative, Diaperis maculata.
Now that I know where to find them, I'll keep going back to that spot for more specimens. As small as they are, it will probably take a few tries to get clean DNA sequences and build solid consensus contigs. We shall see.
Yesterday's trip to my Wachusett Mountain field site was not only productive, it was perfect. There are few days in the years that I've been foraying that compare to it. It was a clear, cool day, an ideal 60°F when I arrived on site. Mosquitoes and biting flies were nearly absent and I barely broke a sweat. The recent rain and cool temperatures for August have produced a variety and quantity of fungal fruiting bodies that I haven't seen in years; there was such a diversity that I collected perhaps one species out of twenty that I actually saw. Lactarius spp. were particularly prolific, and much of that was the choice edible Lactarius hygrophoroides, although I didn't collect any of that. One would have needed a dump truck to haul off a fraction of that mushroom's bulk. The various Russula species of a couple of weeks ago have nearly vanished now. In their wake, thanks to the unusual weather, have come a number of species that are not often collected on the East Coast if they ever have been before. The coral fungus you'll see below, for example, is normally known only from Idaho westward, but there's nothing else it could be according to every characteristic I observed in the specimen collected. Next to Lactarius spp., the bulk of the fruiting bodies I observed in the field were boletes of various sorts, many of them quite robust and colorful. Tylopilus was particularly profuse.
I also brought back a few polypore specimens that look to have become home to beetles. I'll be opening up the fruiting bodies today to see what lives inside of them. That's interesting in terms of my research, but the photos that follow are of the most interesting and colorful mushrooms I collected, not the comparatively drab polypores.
Special thanks to Manfred Binder for his help with the identification of the boletes. Without his assistance, I'd still be in the lab trying to figure out what collections I was adding to the herbarium. It takes me a half hour to an hour to identify a single bolete; Manfred can do it in about 15 seconds most of the time. I hope he enjoys the Strobilomyces.
 |  | This mushroom isn't from Wachusett. Several Tricholomopsis rutilans popped up right in my yard. Commonly known as the plum and custard mushroom, it's distinctive mauve scales on the cap and stip and egg yolk yellow gills (when fresh; this specimen was already a bit dry) make it quite easy to identify. I last collected it in California in 2002; this photo of one of the California specimens better illustrates the color of the gills of a fresh specimen. While it's technically edible, I don't care for it. As I recall, the flavor is bland verging on bitter. Still, finding this growing literally in my own backyard was a nice surprise. |
 |  | Coprinus micaceus is a common species, usually found fruiting in large clusters around decaying wood, as shown in these photos. The surface of the cap is usually covered in metallic gray flecks; you can just make them out in the second image. Rain will tend to wash those off, though. Some references list this as edible, others say its edibility is unknown. I've never tried it myself. While few Coprinus species are poisonous, some contain a chemical that can react with ethyl alcohol in the digestive system to cause very nasty illness, bad enough that in the past they were used as a sort of medicine to dissuade alcoholics from drinking. It's thus a good idea to avoid mixing Coprinus with alcohol. |
 | One of the most distinguishing traits of Coprinus spp. is their tendency to digest their own fruiting bodies. In this image, you can see that process beginning. The gills, which are already black with spores, are the first to go. The cap margin soon turns black and gooey as well, and before long the whole mushroom decays into a mass of black goop. The ink used to write the US Constitution was made from that unpleasant-looking mess. Again, this Coprinus micaceus specimen was found in my backyard; I didn't see any at Wachusett. | |
 |  | One last mushroom from my backyard. This is Inocybe lacera, and despite its rather nondescript appearance it's easy to distinguish from the seemingly endless parade of little brown Inocybes. Most of them have angular or nodulose spores; it's practically a signature of the genus. I. lacera, on the other hand, has spores shaped somewhere between a sausage and an egg. It also doesn't have a particularly strong scent, whereas many of its kin have quite distinct and often disagreeable odors. This makes I. lacera arguably the drabbest among the drab when it comes to little brown mushrooms. I suppose that's a sort of distinction. Most likely toxic, I doubt most people would even notice the thing growing among the pine needles in which it is typically found, let alone try eating the thing. |
 |  | While the unusual-looking Orisalum mikeum has previously been collected from Florida, California, Pennsylvania and New York in past years, it has most recently been sited only in Massachusetts and briefly near the Penn State campus as well. As far as is known, it is a saprobe despite it's misleading name. While rare, it can be found in nearly any habitat and is as common under hardwoods as it is under conifers. It definitely appreciates cool, sunny days, beer and lobster. The spore dispersal mechanism employed by Orisalum mikeum has been the subject of much speculation in the past, but authorities have since agreed that some things are better left unexamined. This species renders itself inedible by sequestering nicotine from its substrate. Do not attempt to eat. |
 |  | My first collection at Wachusett was Tylopilus indecisus, and it also turned out to be one of the more run-of-the-mill Tylopilus species present, though it certainly was widespread enough. There are a number of similar looking species and it takes a bit of investigation to narrow it down to this one. The stipe lacks reticulation and turns dark brown in age, while the pores turn pink and bruise light brown. When cut open, the staining reaction is very slow and culminated eventually in a pink tone after about ten minutes. Applying FeSO4 to the cap context also results in a slow staining reaction that starts off a light gray and eventually turns blue after several minutes. Otherwise, T. indecisus is readily confused with any number of brown members of the genus, which is probably the reason it's called the indecisive Tylopilus in the first place. |
 |  | Hydnum repandum is sometimes known as the sweet tooth, and that should tell you all you need to know about its edibility. It's quite tasty and safe to try; there are no truly toxic fungi that are likely to be confused with this one, just some bitter ones. I've collected it several times in the past. At Wachusett, I've only found pure white specimens of var. album; I've found ones with the characteristic dark scales in the past, particularly in the spring in California. If you look carefully, you can see that there are orange stains on the fruiting body in the second photo that weren't there in the first. That's a characteristic bruising reaction for this species; the slightest touch of human skin causes that discoloration. I've also noticed that the local variety has shorter teeth than those found on the West Coast. The latter have teeth that can sometimes be as long as 4 mm, but those around Wachusett have teeth that don't exceed 2 mm. |
 |  | The appearance of the beautifully colored, slimy to sticky Cortinarius iodes is a sure sign that autumn is on its way to the northeast. I collected this species many times in Florida where it is the most prevalent winter mushroom at least as far south as Tampa. Definitely not edible and likely toxic. Most purple things aren't good to eat. |
 |  | Speaking of things that aren't edible, here's Entoloma griseum. This is one that can kill you. When cut or crushed, these specimens gave off an almost eye watering bleach aroma, and that ought to be a warning sign for anybody with the IQ of a sand flea that it shouldn't go into one's mouth. The flesh of this fungus is crisp and somewhat fragile and the stipe is filled with stringy pith but has a hollow pocket running up the center. |
 |  | Much more colorful than the above Entoloma but probably just as toxic, this cheerful-hued mushroom is Nolanea salmoneum. I've never seen it before, but it was prolific under hemlock at Wachusett yesterday. Normally, this mushroom is found in marshy areas such as cedar swamps, but I guess all the rain we've had this month has allowed it to explore some new terrain lately. Nolanea is a genus recently split from Entoloma; one of the distinguishing traits of the genus is the production of cubical spores, which makes them very easy to measure. Those from specimens of N. salmoneum I collected yesterday measured a neat 9 microns per side. This image shows a very mature specimen; younger ones are even more acutely conical and often have a little pointy bit sticking up from the apex. It might well be confused with a Conocybe or Lepoiota at first, but a quick look at the spores under a microscope soon reveal its true identity. |
 |  | When I first noticed this specimen of Tylopilus felleus better known as the bitter bolete, I was surprised to see it growing high on an old hemlock stump. Tylopilus is an entirely mycorrhizal genus, not a wood rotter. Manfred tells me, however, that this species has learned the trick of growing on conifer stumps that have already decomposed enough to permit young roots from other plants to penetrate them; the fungus then forms an association with those rootlets. You can see some of these in the photo if you look careful at the left side. T. felleus looks a good bit like T. indecisus, above, but the brown reticulation over the top quarter of the stipe is distinctive. As its common name implies, T. felleus is far too bitter to be edible. |
 | Otidea leporina, the rabbit ear fungus, is an ascomycete among the Pezizamycota, related to things like tree ears and elf saddles. These specimens were blowing off visible clouds of spores at the slightest provocation. Identifying things like this can be tricky and absolutely requires microscopic examination. While its edibility is not known, O. leporina very likely contains the nasty toxin N-methyl-N-formylhydrazone. Kinda cute, though. | |
 |  | There's little chance of mistaking Boletus frostii for anything else. This is one of the most colorful of the boletes, and the combination of crimson pores and a red stipe with yellow reticulation make it stand out from its peers. The pores readily bruise black when handled. B. frostii is edible though not particularly good and some people have trouble digesting it; it's probably best avoided unless one is certain of one's stomach's cast iron composition. Still, you can't beat this mushroom for sheer color and overall esthetics. On that front, I'll give it a 10. |
 | B. frostii is all about red. This mushroom, Retiboletus ornatipes, is all about yellow. It's not quite as pretty as B. frostii in my opinion, but it is reputed to be a very good edible and it was fruiting by the hundreds in a particular area of Wachusett dominated by beech with a little birch as well. I soon gathered a paper bag full of these for the herbarium and there are enough that I don't think anyone will miss them when I pilfer a few to try eating as I have never done so before. I'm generally a bit circumspect about eating boletes (the only time I've ever poisoned myself was with a small bolete), but Manfred identified this one, so I'm willing to give it a go. | |
 | I have no idea what this fungus is doing in Massachusetts, but every single morphological character it possesses indicates that it's Ramaria magnipes, a species normally found from Idaho to the Pacific Northwest under trees like vine maple that aren't even present at Wachusett. This one was collected under mixed beech and maple. It's quite distinctive in many ways; the number of terminal branches is highly variable and each branch ends with what looks like the surface of a molar. The arms are quite short and the base is deeply rooting and tapers to a sharp point. From the clamps on its basidia to its chemical reactions, no other species fills the bill. Ironically, "magnipes" means "big feet," a reference to its unusually bulky base. I assure you, however, that this particular bigfoot is not a rubber Halloween costume. | |
 |  | We've had red and yellow, so I'll end with purple. This beautiful specimen is Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceus, the purple bitter bolete. Like most purple things, it's as distasteful as its name implies. It may be hard to judge the scale of this mushroom from the photos; the larger specimen is over a foot tall and has a cap about six inches wide. This is the first time I've collected it and by the time I found it I had no room for anymore specimens. Polypores can take up a lot of space in one's backpack. Like all of the other collections made yesterday, this one will be deposited into the university herbarium for future study. I should note that even with Manfred's help on the boletes, I spent over seven hours identifying the fungi whose photos you've just seen in addition to the five or six hours spent collecting them and the two hours spent composing this update. I hope the effort proves enjoyable and useful to my readers. |
