Nearctica - Biomes - Eastern Deciduous Forest

Fungi of the Eastern Deciduous Forest

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As you walk through the Eastern Deciduous Forest, the plants of the ecosystem are evident all around. Another important part of the ecosystem (the fungi), however, is largely invisible. You may see a mushroom here and there, but most of the forest's fungi are located underground or hidden among the dead leaves and wood. Mushrooms are fruiting bodies of the fungi proper. Most of a fungus individual consists of a complicated, intertwined mass of thin threads called hyphae concealed in the soil or humus. You see the mushrooms, but it's as if the only parts of the forest trees and other plants you could see were the flowers and fruit. To learn more about the morphology and classification of the fungi, visit Nearctica's general introduction to the fungi. Most of the forest fungi feed on dead organic matter, but some species are parasitic (such as the fungus that causes athelete's foot) and others are symbiotes (see lichens below as an example). The fungi of the Eastern Deciduous Forest, and North America in general are extremely diverse in both number of species and morphology. A few of the types of mushrooms you might find in the forest are given below.
Cup Fungi (Ascomycetes)
	The Cup Fungi are a large and variable group, but they are not nearly as noticeable, or seen as often, as other types of mushrooms. The particular genus of cup fungi shown on the left is small (0.5 to 1 inch in diameter) and cup-shaped with a bright red interior. You'll find this particular species in the early spring on dead branches and logs.
Morels (Ascomycetes)
	Morels are just about the most delicious thing on earth and are much prized. The wrinkly cap is distinctive. Morels typically are found in the very early spring just as the pussy-willows are appearing. They are mostly found in old orchards or the regions of old abandoned farms. Sometimes burned areas of forest yield crops of morels. Note: Although many wild mushrooms are very tasty, you should never pick and eat a wild mushroom unless you really know what your are doing. The penalty for making a mistake, and mistakes are made, is much too high.
Puffballs (Basidiomycetes)
	Puffballs are round, or round with a short undifferentiated stalk without a separate cap. Puffballs are commonly found growing in fields, lawns, or from rotten wood. The outer skin of some of the common puffballs found in yards and fields dries up as the mushroom matures. You can pick them up a squeeze out a cloud of dried brown spores. The largest mushroom in North America is the Giant Puffball ranging in size from softball to a basketball.
Shelf Fungi (Basidiomycetes)
	A wide variety of shelf fungi exist, but the ones you are mostly likely to see in a walk through the forest are those sticking out from the trunk or branch of a tree like a small shelf. The shelf fungi can be dull gray or white or in some cases (like the one on the left) can have colored bands. Sheld fungi do not have a stalk and the underside is typically smooth with minute pores you can often see only with a hand lens.
Pore Fungi (Boletes) (Basidiomycetes)
	Boletes are typical looking mushrooms with a cap and stalk. The underside of the cap is covered with pores and the spores of the mushroom develop inside these pores and are shed at maturity. Boletes are typically thick and fleshy are are often riddled with the larvae of various beetles and flies. Boletes are most common in the late summer and early fall, particularly after hot, rainy weather.
Coral Fungi (Basidiomycetes)
	Coral fungi do not look like mushrooms, but instead consist (mostly commonly) of a mass of branches. Coral fungi may also be small with only a few branches, or in a few cases of a single stem. Coral fungi can be found throughout the year, but mostly in the late summer and fall. Some species are found on the trunks of downed trees, but some arise directly from the humus of the forest floor.
Gilled Mushrooms (Basidiomycetes)
	The gilled mushrooms are the most numerous and diverse of the mushrooms of the Eastern Deciduous Forest. Gilled mushrooms vary in size from minute to moderately large and in edibility from delicious to deadly poisonous. Gilled mushrooms take their name from the arrangement of a series of thin plates radiating from the stalk to the outer margin of the cap much like the plates in a radiator. The mushroom spores develop on the gills and when mature are shed. A few of the different gilled mushrooms are shown on the left.
Lichens (Fungi and Algae in a Mutualistic Relationship)
	Lichens are usually thought of as plants in the same sense as a moss. However lichens represent a mutualistic relationship between a fungi (usually in the Ascomycetes) and an algae species, either a green or blue algae. The fungus provides a structural framework for the algae and protects the algae from dehydration. The algae in turn perform photosynthesis and supply energy both to itself and to its fungal partner. Lichens come in a variety of forms. The commonest in the east is the type forming blotches on rocks, walls, and trees. Some lichens consist of thin plates, and some, such as the one on the left, are elongated and branched.
Slime Molds (Myxomycota)
	The slime molds have traditionally been included as part of the fungi, but their fundamental morphology and biochemistry is now leading scientists to place them as a separate ground of organisms only distantly related to the fungi. The slime molds are curious beasts with both animal and plant like characteristics during different parts of their life cycle. The vegetative part of the life cycle is a large amoeba-like mass called a plasmodium. The plasmodium moves about slowly feeding on particles of organic matter very much like the creature in the "Blob" movies. Under some conditions the plasmodium becomes stationary and puts up fruiting bodies somehwhat like the mushrooms of fungi species. Slime molds are generally found growing on damp soil, rotting logs, leaf mold, or other organic material.