An international network of/for intelligent organisms
Slime mould interaction with fungi - university research.
Hi all!
I'm currently working on piece of science fiction for my creative writing degree. Put briefly, a mutation has caused various species of fungi to grow and spread very quickly - food and perishables rot quickly, mould infests houses overnight, ecosystems are heavily disrupted.
It would be great to include slime moulds in this piece as the intelligent behaviour they display would translate very well when amplified like the fungi. But, I'm also aware that slime moulds are not fungi in the slightest.
Are there any mechanisms by which slime moulds would grow or spread more rapidly when more fungi are present? Would it be as simple as saying "there's more slime moulds because there's more fungi for them to eat"?
Thanks very much!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Heather Barnett on
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If you've ever seen a time-lapse of slime mould consuming a mushroom, you have your answer... they are voracious!
Here are a couple of films I have stumbled upon for your viewing pleasure ...
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Permalink Reply by James White on
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Perfect, thanks very much! Incredible to see how fast it moves in that second video. Much easier to see how it would spread secondary to rampant fungi now too. Thanks again!
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Hi
That's a great idea. As Heather's said, many of them like mushrooms, Badhamia utricularis is often found on fungi. I've been growing oyster mushrooms in the same room as my slimes - I had one slime find its way into a culture, it's both not pretty and bizarrely bizarrely beautiful, I must timelapse some, The slime basically followed along the mycelium gradually enveloping the whole culture. I was slightly surprised as Pleurotus is a predator in its own right on nematodes.
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If you do get a timelapse, please send it to me, I'm sure it'd be helpful! And if you have any videos already I'd love to see them.
Interesting to hear about the predatory behavior—I'll have to read up on that, it'd certainly be an interesting factor to explore in this fictional scenario.
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