A pioneering experiment in the East Bay shows how mushrooms can reduce toxins or harmful microbes in the water supply

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A pioneering experiment in the East Bay shows how mushrooms can reduce toxins or harmful microbes in the water supply
Bracket fungi, named for their shelf-like structure, can often be seen fanned out of decaying wood. How can you identify them?
Oakland’s Knowland Park boasts unparalleled views of the San Leandro Bay, gnarled coast live oak trees and stands of rare, maritime chaparral. But within this large landscape, one of nature’s smallest communities is flourishing—lichen.
Lichens are not so much a taxonomic category as a way of life; as lichenologist Trevor Goward put it, “Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture.”
Culinary uses aside, fungi have their own aesthetic appeal: the spectral elegance of the amanitas, the vivid reds and greens of the waxy caps.
The beauty, and danger, of Amanita mushrooms.
Scientists and fire ecologists will be studying the cause and effects of these fires for years, and that includes taking a close look at fungi in the soil. As reported in Bay Nature‘s July-September 2005 issue, UC Berkeley microbiologist Tom … Read more
Is it a mushroom? A moss? Bacterial scum? Trod on underfoot or passed by in blissful ignorance, lichens are perhaps the least understood element of the Bay Area landscape. But they are everywhere. And when we look closely at them, a colorful and diverse world opens up before our eyes.