Mushrooms in Chernobyl

[ORGANinc.]

Very interesting paragraph I found about specific species of mycorrhizal... Teaming with Fungi - Silviculture

Reclamation of waste sites

Mycorrhizae can take up and isolate toxins—including heavy metals and radioactive elements. According to research, some mycorrhizal fungi bind and isolate radioactive elements, which can remain immobilized within the fungal tissue for years.

Consider several studies involving mushrooms related to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. In 2002, a robot sent inside the destroyed nuclear power plant took samples of fungi growing on the walls. Researchers determined that these fungi used radioactivity as an energy source to break down food and increase growth. Studies have also shown that native deciduous trees and conifers can be inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi such as Gomphidius glutinosus, Craterellus tubaeformis, and Laccaria amethystina, all of which absorb radioactive cesium.

Other studies demonstrate the importance of mycorrhizal inoculation in reseeding and reclaiming forested areas damaged by mining operations. The goal is to return the mine site to natural conditions, in part by inoculating the soils with mycorrhizal fungi.

Another unbelievable fungi fact...

Mycorrhizal fungi and plant roots access the same nutrients in the soil and use the same mechanisms to take up nutrients, but the fungi can also access minerals by growing into rock and dissolving them. This enables the fungi to capture mineral nutrients for the host plant that the plant would never get without the mycorrhizal association.

Edited December 7, 2020 by ORGANinc.

[Fridge]

Very interesting post @ORGANinc.. Thanks for posting!

I grew up in an area that was effected by the radioactive cloud and acid rain caused by the Chernobyl disaster. I can remember I wasn't allowed to go play in the rain, lol.

In certain areas, especially in Scandinavia it is not advisable to eat mushrooms that are growing in the wild as they take up radioactivity from the ground. Any other stuff that grows there is edible be it berries, apples, etc. Mushrooms are fascinating life forms.

Wild mushrooms in Finland still containing high radioactive cesium from Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 « nuclear-news (nuclear-news.net)

[ORGANinc.]

4 minutes ago, Fridge said:

Very interesting post @ORGANinc.. Thanks for posting!

I grew up in an area that was effected by the radioactive cloud and acid rain caused by the Chernobyl disaster. I can remember I wasn't allowed to go play in the rain, lol.

In certain areas, especially in Scandinavia it is not advisable to eat mushrooms that are growing in the wild as they take up radioactivity from the ground. Any other stuff that grows there is edible be it berries, apples, etc. Mushrooms are fascinating life forms.

Wild mushrooms in Finland still containing high radioactive cesium from Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 « nuclear-news (nuclear-news.net)

Wow bro that's unbelievable. Thank goodness you got through that, quite a story, thanks for sharing! The military presents and just whole vibe around that situation must have been shit scary!

[Fridge]

1 hour ago, ORGANinc. said:

Wow bro that's unbelievable. Thank goodness you got through that, quite a story, thanks for sharing! The military presents and just whole vibe around that situation must have been shit scary!

No worries bro no mutation so far. The wind blew the cloud to the west. In Russia there was plenty of military on the road. But not so much in Germany. I believe there was another but smaller incident not too long ago actually. But the Russians pretty much covered it up.

[ORGANinc.]

Haha you did well! Ya I heard of one or two in China or other similar countries, and this was more recent. Unsettling stuff. 

 

[Teal Smith]

Fungi are fascinating. So diverse and they can do so many things. Thanks for sharing @ORGANinc.. Something I came across the other day, you might find interesting, check out this video https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/slime-mold-navigate-maze/

There are certain slime molds that were able to navigate their way around a maze to get to a food source. Nature never ceases to amaze

[ORGANinc.]

1 hour ago, Teal Smith said:

Fungi are fascinating. So diverse and they can do so many things. Thanks for sharing @ORGANinc.. Something I came across the other day, you might find interesting, check out this video https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/slime-mold-navigate-maze/

There are certain slime molds that were able to navigate their way around a maze to get to a food source. Nature never ceases to amaze

Will definitely check it out man It’s really incredible stuff. So interesting!

[Fridge]

@Teal Smith, slime mold might be one of the most interesting things on earth. As far as I remember they aren't made of many cells but they are one big cell that can split up and merge again. It can change it's appearance to many different forms. It seems to be quite intelligent and It seems like a life form from another planet. I read about a slime mold that covers several square kilometers. Will check if I find that article now...

Here we go: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-largest-organism-is-fungus/

Edited December 7, 2020 by Fridge

[Teal Smith]

@Fridge Awesome, that is fascinating, thanks man :)

Agree 100%. There is intelligence at work there for sure. Like something almost otherworldly.

So many different species of fungi, all with different functions, without which life on this planet wouldn't exist. Pretty crazy how fungi are more closely related to us than they are to plants, too. 



 

[Fridge]

Yes @Teal Smith  many people aren't aware that mushrooms are neither plants nor animals. They certainly don't get enough credit.

[Teal Smith]

@Fridge feel free to message me any new info or interesting articles on fungi. I've been into mycology for the last few years and am always looking for new info. I used to be a nature guide and so always loved photographing animals. These days I just walk the forests for my own interest and fun/exercise, and I take just as many photos of fungi as I do of birds and animals on my hikes.

Here are some of those pics. We have some truly amazing species right here in SA. As time passes, I find the smaller things in nature to be even more intriguing than the larger ones. 

@ORGANinc. the Red Stinkhorn (below) has been speculated to be mycorrhizal (as well as being saprophytic). No idea which plants they form a symbiosis with. They are so strange... smell just like rotting meat to attract flies so they can disperse spores. I dry heaved a few times when I smelled this one LOL. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Bos]

Some Chicken of the woods....

Butter and garlic.

[Bakstein420]

Some beautiful shots bud 

[Fridge]

I agree with Bakstein, beautiful pictures you took there! I warched some interesting videos on that topic. I'll see if I can find them and send you the links @Teal Smith.

[PsyCLown]

Fungi are truly amazing and we likely are not using them to their full potential.

 

@Teal Smith some lovely pictures there!  

[Teal Smith]

@Fridge That would be awesome bud :)

Thanks everyone :) 

 

[Chris Jay]

Beautiful pictures @Teal Smith. Love these fungi, just wish I knew more.

Dont know if you guys are aware but hemp is also used to suck up the contaminants left in the soil:

Quote

 

For almost two decades, industrial hemp growing in the environs of the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine has been helping to reduce soil toxicity.

In 1990, just four years after the initial explosion, the Soviet administration of the time requested that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assess the environmental situation. In the 30km exclusion zone surrounding Chernobyl, high concentrations of various toxic metals including lead, cesium-137, strontium-90 and plutonium were found in the soil, as well as in the tissues of plants and animals.

In response, it was decided that a concerted effort to reduce soil contamination through the use of beneficial plants would be undertaken. This process, known as phytoremediation, was implemented almost immediately.

 

Source

[ORGANinc.]

1 minute ago, Chris Jay said:

Beautiful pictures @Teal Smith. Love these fungi, just wish I knew more.

Dont know if you guys are aware but hemp is also used to suck up the contaminants left in the soil:

Source

Thanks @Chris Jay interesting stuff, will have a look!

[Teal Smith]

@Chris Jay Thanks so much man :D      

A great book on Fungi with loads of easy to understand info: "Field Guide to Mushrooms & other Fungi of South Africa" by Gary B Goldman & Marieka Gryzenhout. Just reading over that book a few times will give you quite a good understanding on the ID part.

Wow, no I never knew that about hemp. Very cool, super interesting, will def check it out!