Spores Are Self-propelled

brown fungus that resembles a human ear sits on a tree with a light background

Biological Strategy

Wood ear

AskNature Team

Image: Kevin Cannings / Pixabay / Free non-commercial use

Capture, Absorb, or Filter Liquids

The most common liquid used by living systems is water, which they require to survive. But there are many other liquids that provide nourishment, play a role in defense mechanisms, or serve other purposes. Water varies in its availability; it is sometimes plentiful and sometimes very scarce or only available as fog or mist. To minimize the energy required to capture, absorb, or filter liquids, living systems have strategies that take advantage of the unique properties of the given liquid. For example, water moves from a gaseous to liquid state when it encounters a surface colder than the air. Plants in forests that experience fog and clouds more than rain have strategies that condense liquid water from moist air.

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Distribute Solids

Solids include resources such as food, seeds, spores, and leaves, which living systems must sometimes move to accomplish various activities such as pollinating, feeding their young, or building shelters. To effectively distribute solids, living systems must use strategies appropriate to the sizes and types of solids and the media in which they exist (air, water, or another medium). This may entail strategies beyond simply holding and carrying solids. For example, some seeds are carried by the wind to new locations for germination. Others–like the burdock plant’s hooked seeds–cling to animal fur to be transported.

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Basidiomycetes (Club fungi)

Division Basidiomycota (“club fungi”): Mushrooms, smuts, rusts

Basidiomycota are the iconic group of organisms that comprises up to one-third of all fungi: 16 classes, 1,589 genera, and about 30,000 species. Basidiomycota is the second largest group of fungi next to Ascomycota, the sac fungi known as molds, yeasts, and powdery mildews. Basidiomycota hold a worldwide importance in food, culture, folklore, and medicine. Most club fungi reproduce through spores, while a small group can reproduce asexually. While many mushrooms are foraged and eaten by people, some can produce deadly toxins and hallucinogens. Psilocybin mushrooms produce hallucinogenic toxins which hold some potential for the treatment of mental health disorders.

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Spores of basidomycete fungi disperse using a surface tension catapult.

“Surface tension is almost imperceptible at length scales at which humans operate. However at microscopic length scales, surface tension forces dominate over the force of gravity [e.g. when the length of an object gets smaller than 1mm]…This simple phenomenon has profound consequences on the release of spores. The dispersal of most fungal spores by wind requires that they be small thus making the force of gravity inconsequential compared with adhesion forces. As a result spores tend to cling to each other and to the gills of mushroom caps. Active spore ejection provides a solution to this problem…However, unlike other active dispersal systems which involve mass release of spores from specialized launching structures, ballistospores are self propelled by water.” (Noblin 2009:2835)