Day 4 - Mushrooms and Lichens

Today we learned to appreciate the world of mushrooms and lichens. These often-overlooked organisms are a critically important part of every ecosystem and represent a huge amount of biodiversity. They can be found in every color of the rainbow and growing on almost any substrate. This makes them perfect subjects for our continued study of photography and the natural world.

A mushroom is the fruiting body of the fungus and a lichen is a fungus and an algae living in a symbiotic relationship. We learned that new research has discovered fungal yeast may be an additional partner in this cool relationship.

Today's hunting and photographing tips included:

• Pick the right season- cool and wet is best
• Get low!
• Photograph as many angles as possible- the undersides of mushroom caps are often diagnostic.
• Unobstruct the image- brush off dirt, move leaves etc.
• Carry a small flashlight to brighten up dsark subject
• Use a macro lens - especially for lichen

Today's challenge:
Add one (or more) observations of a mushroom and a lichen. Consider the substrate that the specimen is growing on and note this in the comments of your observation.

Classroom activity: "Paint Chip Color Hunt" Send students in the field with a paper paint chip sample (from a hardware store) in any color and challenge them to find that exact color in nature. This is a great way to bring attention to mushrooms and lichen.

Julkaistu heinäkuu 31, 2020 05:24 IP. käyttäjältä tanyasulikowski