Researchers uncover giant 30-year-old fungus near Eltham
From left to right Dr Peter Buchanan, (front), Gerrie Viljoen, teacher at Ormiston Junior College, Auckland and Sam Lasham PhD student Auckland University (he's wearing orange, and was the person who found the enormous Ganoderma).
Photo:
Supplied
A trio of fungal experts stumbled across the largest Ganoderma specimen they had ever seen during the annual New Zealand Fungal Foray this week in Taranaki.
PhD student Sam Lasham found the enormous Ganoderma at Rotokare near Eltham.
He was accompanied by the academic leading the expedition, Dr Peter Buchanan from Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, and Auckland teacher teacher Gerrie Viljoen.
He said the enormous Ganoderma was a perennial. "It can keep growing out and down, but only if there's enough food behind it, on the stump that it's growing on."
But Buchanan said he had never seen one this size before in 45 years of looking, and estimated the fungus was about 30 years old.
Around 50 fungal experts and enthusiasts from across the country are taking part in the four day event, which ends Saturday.
Participants observed and photographed fungi in surrounding native forests, some of which are unlikely to have been previously studied for their fungi. The foragers have permission from iwi/hapū, the Department of Conservation and Taranaki Council to collect them.
Several of the forests being accessed during this Foray are unlikely to have been previously studied for their fungi.
Orange pore fungus Favolaschia calocera.
Photo:
Supplied / Kim Triegaardt
This year's foray includes a "Fungus of the Year" promotion with 12 fungal candidates to vote from.
People can
vote for their favourite fungus
, or maybe vote for a fungus that is threatened, or culturally important, or edible, or (on the negative side) one that's causing an important disease. As a Kingdom entirely separate from plants, and more closely related to animals, fungi come in so many shapes, colours and forms.
On the specimen table at the Fungal Foray.
Photo:
Supplied / Kim Triegaardt
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Annual New Zealand Garden Bird Survey begins
A Kererū pair in the kōwhai. Photo: Manaaki Whenua/Meg Lipscombe Hundreds of citizen scientists are set for a stint of bird spotting as the annual New Zealand Garden Bird Survey gets underway on Saturday. It's the 19th time that Te Tatauranga o ngā Manu Māra o Aotearoa has been held. From now until 6 July people were encouraged to get out in their garden or go to a local park and look at and listen for birds for one hour, on one day, and record the highest number of each species they notice. The survey's co-ordinator, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research senior researcher Dr Angela Brandt, said the ongoing data collection showed how the trends for each species might be changing over time. The survey reported on 14 different bird species that were most commonly seen in the garden to identify trends within those species. Pīwakawaka (fantail) about to take off in the backyard. Photo: Manaaki Whenua/Graham Murphy Last year's survey found that tūī and pīwakawaka continued to increase, while national declines in silvereye or tauhou lessened. But there were short-term declines for kererū both at the national scale and in seven regions, she said. "What we've noticed, especially in our last two reports, was that three species were starting to show these short-term, five-year declines. "That's the kererū, the goldfinch, and the house sparrow. It's not a cause for alarm necessarily, but it's something that we should pay attention to and we want to see whether those trends start to pick up again or if they continue on that kind of declining end of the spectrum." Brandt said the survey not only provided information about birds and the environment generally, but it boosted participants' wellbeing by getting them outdoor and observing and thinking about nature. "We had people saying it was a good opportunity to slow down. Participants talked about feeling curiosity, joy, fun, wonder and a sense of connection." A Tūī (kōkō) interrupted from its feed. Photo: Manaaki Whenua/Colin Keast It also complemented the monitoring undertaken in conservation areas, she added. "We're asking people to count all the birds they see, so we get a lot of information on the common species [as well as rare and threatened species] and can then see if they're potentially starting to decline. "But also we're also getting information from urban and rural areas where people are, so that covers some different parts of New Zealand to the monitoring efforts going on by our science organisations and experts." For some species there was a lot of variation among regions, she added. "The fantail is a great example of a species that's quite consistent [everywhere] as we're generally seeing increases over the last several years." In contrast the korimako (bellbird) was "quite variable," she said. "Canterbury and Nelson for example, we've had pretty consistent increasing trends for bell birds over the last several years. "But then we actually have some strong decreases in the counts that we've seen in some of our North Island regions such as Gisborne, Hawke's Bay and Manawatu." It underscored why survey participation was invaluable, Brandt said. "What's really helpful for us to actually pick up those differences is to get enough people participating in each region, [to] give us that full picture." How to take part in the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey: 1. Visit the NZ Garden Bird Survey website to get started. 2. Select a garden or a local park. 3. Choose any ONE day between 28 June and 6 July. 4. Look and listen for birds on that day for ONE hour. 5. For each species, record the HIGHEST number seen or heard at one time. 6. Submit the results online via the NZ Garden Bird Survey website's Take Part page. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
New van lab for measuring carbon dioxide levels praised by scientists
The lab would start work on the streets of Wellington over the next few months. Photo: Supplied/GNS Science Climate scientists are hailing a new lab in a van as a big step forward in finding out how much carbon dioxide New Zealand cities release and how much is absorbed by green spaces. A CarbonWatch-Urban research programme, led by GNS Science, is mapping CO2 sources and sinks in every town and city. The van will access varying climates, geographies and population sizes, and will visit multiple times to account for changes in season. Spokesperson Jocelyn Turnbull said up until now, only a handful of cities around the world - including Auckland - had the technology to measure emissions, and the mobile lab with its state of the art instruments is a world first. "Getting accurate information into the hands of decision-makers is essential for emissions reduction," Turnbull said. She said the work was critical in deciding how best to reduce emissions. Jocelyn Turnbull (L) and Leigh Fleming. Photo: Supplied/GNS Science Turnbull said the van design required a bit of "Kiwi ingenuity". "Squeezing all of this high-tech equipment inside the van, and providing a rechargeable electric power supply, has required a fair bit of Kiwi ingenuity from our team and GNS's engineering workshop." The lab would start work on the streets of Wellington over the next few months. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
NZ scientists hoping to crack issue produce going to landfill
New Zealand scientists say they have developed 'world first' technology which has the potential to solve a huge problem in our horticulture industry Sustainability venture 'Powered by plants' has produced a system which converts surplus produce into dried ingredients, bio energy and organic fertiliser. Currently 20% of the 6.2 million tonnes of produce grown in NZ is sent to landfill and NZ manufacturers import thousands of tonnes of dried food ingredients and extracts into the country. The lead scientist on the project, Dr Andrew Prest, talks to Jesse.
