Activity 5: Making a collage of 'fungi in the woodland habitat'

 

This activity will be suitable for all ability groups.  For younger children this could be an art and craft activity using different materials such as felt, card, paints etc to create a colourful woodland scene with different fungus fruit bodies.  Collect fallen leaves and bark from different trees to use on the collage or make your own leaves using craft materials.  Make spore prints by following the method given in Activity 4 and then add them to the collage. Include drawings of trees, leaves, insects and other wildlife found in the woodland habitat.

For older children or high ability groups, a discussion of the woodland habitat and the roles that fungi play could precede the activity.  Below are some notes to help:

The three groups of fungi in a woodland habitat are:

 

• FRIENDLY FUNGI who help to recycle dead plants, trees and animals and recycle nutrients back into the soil.  You find the fruit bodies of these fungi in the leaf litter of the woodland or growing on dead tree branches on the woodland floor.

 

• HELPFUL FUNGI who live around tree and other plant roots and help them to grow by capturing water and nutrients in their vast network of filaments called mycelium and supplying these to the tree or plant.  In return the plants and trees give the fungi sugars from photosynthesis.  The fungi are called ‘mycorrhizas’ meaning ‘fungus root’.  Look out for certain tree types, particularly in the autumn, and you may see the fruit bodies of these fungi growing close by.  Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria is a mycorrhizal fungus)

 

• THE BAD GUY FUNGI who can infect and kill trees and plants.  As long as only a few trees are destroyed in the woodland – this is not such a bad thing because dead tree trunks are food for FRIENDLY FUNGI, insects and other micro-organisms who act as recyclers of nutrients.

Here is a list of some of the common trees found in the British woodland and the fungi that associate with them:

On Oak trees:

 

Friendly Fungi:    Hoof Fungus, Chicken of the woods, Beefsteak fungus

 

Helpful Fungi:      Death Cap, The Sickener

 

Bad Guy Fungi:   Oak Bracket, Hen of the woods, Beefsteak fungus

 

On Beech trees:

 

Friendly Fungi:   Artists Bracket, Oyster mushroom

 

Helpful Fungi:     Chanterelle

 

Bad Guy Fungi:   Beech Polypore, sometimes Artists Bracket

 

On Pine trees:

 

Friendly Fungi:    False morel, Yellow Stags Horn

 

Helpful Fungi:      Fly Agaric, Death cap,The Sickener

 

Bad Guy Fungi:   Wood Cauliflower

 

 

On Birch trees:

 

Friendly Fungi:   Birch polypore

 

Helpful Fungi:     Death cap, Fly Agaric, Wood Hedgehog, Woolly Milkcap

 

Bad Guy Fungi:  Sometimes Birch polypore

 

 

These fungi have a broad host range and can associate with all of the tree species above.

 

• Friendly Fungi:   Such as Oyster mushroom, Sulphur tuft, Candle snuff, Dead Mans Fingers and Turkey Tail can break down dead wood, plant leaves and other dead organic matter and return Carbon, Nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil.

 

• Helpful Fungi:    Such as Chanterelle, Giant puff balls, Shaggy ink cap and Morel can help lots of different trees to capture water and nutrients from the soil to help them to grow.

 

• Bad Guy Fungi:   Such as Honey Fungus can attack lots of different plant hosts.