The Art of Natural Forest Practice |
CROESO>>> | ||
|
|
Bruce finding mycorrhiza
Mycorrhiza in |
Where are the mycorrhiza hiding? transcript of seminar at Coed Nant Gain with Bruce Ing July 2006 All trees have mycorrhiza, but the one we are looking for particularly is the ecto-mycorrhiza, which is where the fungus threads are on the outside of the root, forming a sheath. Most forest trees, like oaks, conifers, beech, birch and things like that, have ecto-mycorrhiza and they are associated with toadstools. Birch is a pioneer tree, and one of the reasons why it is so successful is that it can form mycorrhiza with a very wide range of toadstools, and indeed with some other fungi too, so it will take the same toadstools that will grow with oak or with pine, as well as some of its own special ones, so there’s a very large number of species, probably more than any other native tree, that will associate with birch. It grows in a very wide range of habitats where it will meet a lot of different fungi, and it seems to be very neighbourly, and will grow with practically anything it meets, and that accounts for its success, and also why birch woods are very rich in fungi. As the young root tips grow out, so the fresh mycorrhiza grows along the root tip, and further back along the root, the sheath becomes much less obvious, although it’s still there, probably it isn’t functioning too well because only the root-tip is really absorptive, and so you get mostly this mycorrhiza right on the very ends of the young roots. And then they slowly become less obvious as the root ages. We talk about months, rather than years. So, you have to find feeding roots. (Recording ends) Transcript from tape kindly provided by Brian Burnett |
Mycorrhiza in
Enlarged mycorrhiza (on the camera case) clearly seen is the white tips |