Nature Walk 10/5/2022

Today I walked the Pine Tree Preserve at Boston College. The weather was cloudy with a slight misty rain during my walk. The air was crisp, so I found this walk to be refreshing. Seeing the sun go down as well when on my walk was a nice bonus. On my walk, I was able to observe five instances of fungi. Fungi are eukaryotic organisms--their cells have membrane-bound organelles and a defined nucleus. Something interesting I learned was that fungi were originally included in the plant kingdom, although they later got separated as fungi lack chlorophyll and have key structural differences. Something that particularly caught my eye was the lichens on a large tree. Lichens are a symbiotic relationship, part of which is fungi--the outer skin and internal structure of a lichen are comprised of hyphae. I found it fascinating how it appeared in clusters along the tree, some higher and some lower. This made me question if there were any advantages or disadvantages to their relative heights off the ground. Overall, finding fungi was a relatively challenging task, as there appeared not to be very many where I was walking. Perhaps this could be due to this particular preserve not being the ideal environment for fungi to thrive. Also, I question where the few that were present came from/how they were able to grow.

Posted on October 6, 2022 01:17 AM by