Embark on a magical tour of the forest floor and discover one of the most fascinating living organisms on this planet - fungi! A combination of good genes and a stable environment has allowed this particularly ginormous fungus to continue its creeping existence over the past millennia. "These are very strange organisms to our anthropocentric way of thinking," says biochemist Myron Smith of Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. An Armillaria individual consists of a network of hyphae, he explains. "Collectively, this network is called the mycelium and is of an indefinite shape and size." The vast fungus kingdom has an estimated four million species — ten times more than plants and 600 times more than mammals. P.S. the largest living organism mentioned in the book is in OREGON, not Oregan. Oregan is not a place. I know because I stopped reading to do a little research so I could figure out if there was a place called Oregan that I didn't know about. Very odd typo, so odd that I wasn't sure it was a typo.

Humongous Fungus: The Largest Living Thing on Earth Humongous Fungus: The Largest Living Thing on Earth

Lots to know and think about, not just for our young readers but anybody wanting a good look at the humongous job that fungus do in our lives. You know those mushroom rings 🍄🍄🍄 in folklore that say they’re formed by fairies dancing in a circle? They exist! (The rings at least 😆) Soon afterward, the discovery of an even bigger fungus in southwestern Washington was announced by Terry Shaw, then in Colorado with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and Ken Russell, a forest pathologist at Washington State Department of Natural Resources, in 1992. Their fungus, a specimen of Armillaria ostoyae, covered about 1,500 acres (600 hectares) or 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers). And in 2003 Catherine Parks of the USFS in Oregon and her colleagues published their discovery of the current behemoth 2,384-acre Armillaria ostoyae. Not quite animals and not quite plants, the mysterious kingdom of fungi is full of secrets! Let’s unearth them together with this weird and wonderful book about mushrooms.A team of forestry scientists discovered the giant after setting out to map the population of this pathogenic fungus in eastern Oregon. The team paired fungal samples in petri dishes to see if they fused ( see photo below), a sign that they were from the same genetic individual, and used DNA fingerprinting to determine where one individual fungus ended. This book explores the amazing and diverse world of fungi, mushrooms, mould on land and in the water. This book of fabulous fungi will intrigue and amaze young readers, and open their eyes to the fungi thriving all around them. There’re also the “bad guys”, or rather they face the same survival battle for the fittest in nature with the most creative weapons.

Humongous Fungus - DK - Google Books Humongous Fungus - DK - Google Books

Embark on a magical tour of the forest floor and discover one of the most fascinating living organisms on this planet – fungi! This one, A. ostoyae, causes Armillaria root disease, which kills swaths of conifers in many parts of the U.S. and Canada. The fungus primarily grows along tree roots via hyphae, fine filaments that mat together and excrete digestive enzymes. But Armillaria has the unique ability to extend rhizomorphs, flat shoestringlike structures, that bridge gaps between food sources and expand the fungus's sweeping perimeter ever more. From tiny microbes to the largest living thing, fungi are everywhere! Without fungi, our ecosystem would not work. It provides food for plants and animals and creates a place for them to live. But beware, some types of fungi can destroy crops through fungal diseases or even change animals' behavior. This fascinating foraging book for kids is sure to keep little ones engaged and entertained! And, at second glance, even those button mushrooms aren't so tiny. A large mushroom farm can produce as much as one million pounds (454 metric tons) of them in a year. "The mushrooms that people grow in the mushroom houses&133;; they're nearly genetically identical from one grower to another," Smith says. "So in a large mushroom-growing facility that would be a genetic individual—and it's massive!"They’re every plant and animal’s teammate, when there’s a job to be done such as a “food swap” between fungus and plant, or simply some help with survival. And of course our food, medicine, actually every corner of our world you can think of — they’re there. Sadly, they’re just as susceptible to changes in global temperature and we need to know this because they are the very foundation of life on earth. From tiny microbes to the largest living thing, fungi are everywhere! Without fungi, our ecosystem would not work. It provides food for plants and animals and creates a place for them to live. But beware, some types of fungi can destroy crops through fungal diseases or even change animals’ behavior. This fascinating foraging book for kids is sure to keep little ones engaged and entertained! All fungi in the Armillaria genus are known as honey mushrooms, for the yellow-capped and sweet fruiting bodies they produce. Some varieties share this penchant for monstrosity but are more benign in nature. In fact the very first massive fungus discovered in 1992—a 37-acre (15-hectare) Armillaria bulbosa, which was later renamed Armillaria gallica—is annually celebrated at a "fungus fest" in the nearby town of Crystal Falls, Mich. Inhabiting a whole kingdom of their own, fungi can be found in every ecosystem. They carpet the forest floor, and different types of fungi decompose matter, feed plants, and even change animals' behaviour.

Humongous Fungus (Underground and All Around) - Goodreads

The discovery of this giant Armillaria ostoyae in 1998 heralded a new record holder for the title of the world's largest known organism, believed by most to be the 110-foot- (33.5-meter-) long, 200-ton blue whale. Based on its current growth rate, the fungus is estimated to be 2,400 years old but could be as ancient as 8,650 years, which would earn it a place among the oldest living organisms as well. Not quite animals and not quite plants, the mysterious kingdom of fungi is full of secrets! Let's unearth them together with this weird and wonderful book about mushrooms.

Their beautiful mushrooms come in all colours, shapes, and sizes. Fungal stories include the greening of the Earth, when fungi helped plants first grow on land, and the mass destruction of crops through fungal disease. From the villains of the upcoming bananageddon to plastic-eating eco-warriors, there are over 1.5 million known fungus species, and a huge, unknown number of unnamed "dark" types. Some are even found inside animals - helpful fungi break down food in animal guts, but others take over their hosts' bodies.