For this week's nature walk, I went to the reservation around Hammond Pond. The scenery there was absolutely stunning, and there were steep rock faces that felt almost otherworldly. The weather was quite chilly and damp, but it felt fitting for searching for fungi. The biodiversity that I noticed there was also remarkable - there were countless types of fungi, trees, flowers, moss, ferns, and animals. Since fungi are a bit more difficult to spot, I first looked at the decaying matter - fallen trees and heaps of dead leaves. I figured this would be the place to find fungi, as they are decomposers. As I was wandering around, I was thinking about the different types of bacteria that would colonize fungi vs plants vs animals. I wonder if the bacteria that colonize fungi, specifically mushrooms, have a higher efficacy of organic matter breakdown, to assist in the decomposition aspect of fungi (and perhaps have a symbiotic relationship). Maybe bacteria can be beneficial to fungi like gut microbes (and other bacteria) are to us.
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