Natural Science Forum / Biology / Botany / August 2005

Thank you for the Fungi Lab:

Would you please send us the word document of the Fungi experiment. I would like to use it in my lab.

Thanks,

Fatimata

________________________________

From: plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu on behalf of Perry, Jim
Sent: Sat 8/27/2005 8:43 PM
To: Fisher, Roxanne; plant-ed@magpie.bio.indiana.edu
Subject: RE: [Plant-education] example fungi?

Roxanne,

I used to teach a fungi course, and I found the students to be really interested in them. That's where I first got my reputation for being a fun guy.

It all depends upon what you want to show. If you create some plates of potato dextrose agar or corn meal agar and simply open them to the atmosphere for a couple minutes after the agar has solidified and cooled you will undoubtedly get Penicillium or Aspergillus. I suggest taping the plates shut to avoid any problems. Incubate at room temp and/or body temp for a couple days and you should have all kinds of mold.

I can offer a whole bunch of different fungal experiments you (or better, your students) can do that are really pretty neat and interesting. These experiments are also found in Perry, Morton and Perry lab manual (Wadsworth or IT Thompson or whatever they are calling themselves these days). {If you don't have a copy and want the experiments, please ask and I will send you a Word document with these (and anyone else who wants them) plus also the instructions for culture}

One of the neatest things that will be sure to gross out the students (i.e. interest them) is to take some fresh horse dung, place it in a deep culture dish with a moistened piece of filter paper, cover and incubate for several days. Likely your dung cultures will produce wonderful Pilobolus colonies. These have phototropic sporangiophores that shoot their sporangia by a hydraulic mechanism directionally, if you use unidirectional light. I believe this is described in Raven, Evert and Eichhorn, Biology of Plants.

jim

James W. Perry, Ph.D.
Campus Executive Officer and Dean
University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley
1478 Midway Road
Menasha, WI 54952-1297
920.832-2610 (voice)
920.832-2674 (FAX)
http://www.fox.uwc.edu <http://www.fox.uwc.edu/>





________________________________

From: plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu [mailto:plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu] On Behalf Of Fisher, Roxanne
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 12:01 PM
To: plant-ed@magpie.bio.indiana.edu
Subject: [Plant-education] example fungi?

Dear Plant-Ed folks:



I am teaching intro bio this fall, and since I'm covering the fungi I thought it would be fun to have a few Petri dishes of example fungi to pass around the class.  The only problem is that I know next to nothing about the fungi so when I looked in the Carolina catalogue I had no idea what to order!  Could any of you suggest some example fungi that I could get from Carolina or some other commercial source?



Thanks!



Roxanne



*********************************************************************************

Roxanne Fisher (rfisher@chatham.edu)

Assistant Professor of Biology

Buhl Hall

Chatham College

Woodland Road

Pittsburgh, PA 15232

(412)365-1893

*********************************************************************************



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Roxanne,

I love covering fungi, and I agree with all of Jim Perry's suggestions.  I would add Rhizopus to the list, and if you are covering fungi in the broad sense, add Physarum.  Carolina's cultures are pretty good, but if you can grow your own, they may be fresher.  It's also fun to let the students culture them, if you have time.  

In addition to the supplied cultures, I like to bring in things from outside or the grocery stores.    

1.  Bad fruits are a good source of Penicillium or Aspergillus.  I've had most success with oranges.
2.  Blue cheese (or is it bleu cheese?) is infected varieties of Penicillium roqueforti.  Make the students taste it.
3.  You can probably find some mycelia in a good mulch pile.  
4.  Mulch piles where I live also produce large slime molds on the surface, when the weather is right.  They look like piles of vomit.  If they're squishy, give them a few hours.  They'll dry out, and you can pick them right up.

Finally, the large edible mushroom cultures from Carolina and other places work well, but they are a little pricey and they can take a few weeks before producing.  I usually find that by the time we get anything, the course and the students' interest has moved on to other subjects.

Good luck.  

Doug
______________________________
Douglas P. Jensen
Converse College
Spartanburg, South Carolina
douglas.jensen@converse.edu
(864)596-9123

-----Original Message-----
From:    plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu on behalf of Fisher, Roxanne
Sent:    Sat 8/27/2005 1:00 PM
To:    plant-ed@magpie.bio.indiana.edu
Cc:   
Subject:    [Plant-education] example fungi?
Dear Plant-Ed folks:



I am teaching intro bio this fall, and since I'm covering the fungi I
thought it would be fun to have a few Petri dishes of example fungi to
pass around the class.  The only problem is that I know next to nothing
about the fungi so when I looked in the Carolina catalogue I had no idea
what to order!  Could any of you suggest some example fungi that I could
get from Carolina or some other commercial source?



Thanks!



Roxanne



************************************************************************
*********

Roxanne Fisher (rfisher@chatham.edu)

Assistant Professor of Biology

Buhl Hall

Chatham College

Woodland Road

Pittsburgh, PA 15232

(412)365-1893

************************************************************************
*********

Roxanne

While on the subject of fungi you might find a moment to ask them this
question from the Œpub understanding of science¹

Question 9

What weighs 10 tonnes, covers 36 acres and has lived for

1,500 years?

(a) The roots of a Giant Redwood tree (b) Prickly Pear, an

Australian cactus used to make a drink called 'Southern Cross'

(c) a recently studied 'toadstool'.



Answer: (c) a 'toadstool' called Armillaria bulbosa.

Like most 'toadstools' it has an extensive underground portion or

'mycelium' which, in this case, covered 36 acres or more. The

fact that it was one fungus, rather than many. was established by
DNA testing (Nature, 1992, 356: 428 - 431)

Regards

David

Sheffield, UK.
http://www.oxygraphics.co.uk/