Oregon Fungal Mats
It kills trees rots them and recycles them back into the soil.
Oregon fungal mats. The largest organism on earth is a fungus. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus or fungus like bacterial colony consisting of a mass of branching thread like hyphae the mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro especially within the fairy ring fungi. The blue whale is big but nowhere near as huge as a sprawling fungus in eastern oregon. In western oregon the calcium oxalate producing ectomycorrhizal fungus hysterangium setchellii fischer forms a symbiotic relationship with douglas fir pseudotsuga menziesii mirb franco resulting in fungal mats that range from 1 to 1 5m dia and 7 10 cm thickness.
This organism is estimated to be some 8 000 years old. A mushroom of this type in the malheur national forest in the strawberry mountains of eastern oregon was found to be the largest fungal colony in the world spanning an area of 3 5 square miles 2 200 acres. It s simply nature helping nature. And may weigh as much as 35 000 tons.
The ectomycorrhizal fungal mats are from. Fungal mats can occur abundantly in. More precisely a specific honey fungus measuring 2 4 miles 3 8 km across in the blue mountains in oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on earth. In eastern oregon filip notes there s another way to view the humongous fungus.
Thrips pock the leaves with white scars and black waste. In forest ecosystems fungal mats are functionally important in nutrient and water uptake in litter and wood decomposition processes in carbon resource allocation soil weathering and in cycling of soil resources. Located in the blue mountains within the malheur national forest in eastern oregon armillaria ostoyae is an enormous organism dubbed the humongous fungus by scientists. Several species of fungi belong to.
This honeydew drenches leaves and branches luring sooty molds that cover the shrubs with velvety black fungal mats.