Feeding of carnivorous mushrooms: how and what they eat. Mushrooms are predatory examples of names. How killer mushrooms hunt

To the question: What kind of predatory mushrooms are there, how do they hunt and how do people use them? given by the author Loka Beloved the best answer is - mushrooms that catch and kill microscopic animals using special trapping devices. This is a specialized environmental group mushrooms, distinguished in modern mycology by the way mushrooms feed - microscopic animals caught by fungi act as food. They may be classified as saprotrophic fungi that feed on dead organic matter, since in the absence of prey they feed like saprotrophs.
Predatory mushrooms are distributed throughout to the globe, are widespread in all climatic zones. Predatory fungi include imperfect fungi of the genera Arthrobotrys, Dactylaria, Monacroporium, Tridentaria, Trypospormna.
Trapper apparatus of a predatory mushroom:

Predatory mushrooms, like ordinary mushrooms, form mycelium, consisting of thin mushroom threads. However, these mushrooms have special devices for capturing small animals. For example, oyster mushrooms secrete substances that paralyze nematodes. The fungal hyphae then entwine the worms and penetrate them. Such prey is used by predatory fungi as a source of nitrogen.
In other types of fungi, a special sticky substance is secreted on the surface of the hyphae, to which protozoa, insects and other small animals stick.
Hyphae of some species predatory mushrooms form a network consisting of loops that compress the nematodes caught in them (arthrobotrys lush).
Hunting: (observation through a microscope)
Here, wriggling, a nematode crawls in search of food. She scurries here and there with her sharp end. But the nematode got entangled with its long body in a system of some rings reminiscent of network cells. She tries to free herself, but it's too late. The cells that make up the trapping rings, firstly, are covered with a thick sticky mass on the inner diameter side, and secondly, as soon as the victim gets into the ring, its cells instantly swell and, like a vice, compress the body of the nematode. You can even see how the nematode, fixed in this way, moves helplessly with its free ends for some time, its movements gradually slow down and finally it completely calms down. Meanwhile, the predator fungus has already managed to dissolve the nematode’s shell with its enzymes, pass its sprout inside its body, which gradually turns into a well-developed mycelium, completely filling the internal cavity of the nematode. In this peculiar battle, the following options are sometimes revealed: a powerful, strong nematode, caught in the web of such a spider mushroom, easily breaks the web and tries to leave dangerous place. But the victim is still doomed: it only takes a small piece of hyphae to stick to the nematode’s body, so that it will then germinate, penetrate inside and devour it.
A nematode caught in the loops of Arthrobotrys lush:


Predatory fungi are of interest to humans in connection with the fight against nematodes, which are pathogenic for plants, animals and humans.
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Answer from 2 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: What kind of predatory mushrooms are there, how do they hunt and how do people use them?

Answer from Tanya Trofimova[newbie]
What?!

Answer from Yovetlana Petrova[newbie]
I agree with Svetlana Zabelevskaya

Answer from Polina Mushakova[newbie]
I don’t understand, how do people use predatory mushrooms?

Answer from Egor Kuzmitsky[newbie]
Predatory mushrooms (predatory mushrooms) are mushrooms that catch and kill microscopic animals using special trapping devices. This is a specialized ecological group of fungi, distinguished in modern mycology by the way fungi feed - the food is microscopic animals captured by fungi. They may be classified as saprotrophic fungi that feed on dead organic matter, since in the absence of prey they feed like saprotrophs. Predatory fungi are distributed throughout the globe and are widespread in all climatic zones. Predatory fungi include imperfect fungi of the genera Arthrobotrys, Dactylaria, Monacroporium, Tridentaria, Trypospormna. Predatory mushrooms, like ordinary mushrooms, form mycelium, consisting of thin mushroom threads. However, these fungi have special adaptations for capturing small animals. For example, oyster mushrooms secrete substances that paralyze nematodes. The fungal hyphae then entwine the worms and penetrate them. Such prey is used by predatory fungi as a source of nitrogen. In other types of fungi, a special sticky substance is secreted on the surface of the hyphae, to which protozoa, insects and other small animals stick. The hyphae of some types of predatory fungi form a network consisting of loops that compress the nematodes caught in them (Arthrobotrys lush). Hunting: (observation through a microscope) Here, wriggling, a nematode crawls in search of food. She scurries here and there with her sharp end. But the nematode got entangled with its long body in a system of some rings reminiscent of network cells. She tries to free herself, but it's too late. The cells that make up the trapping rings, firstly, are covered with a thick sticky mass on the inner diameter side, and secondly, as soon as the victim gets into the ring, its cells instantly swell and, like a vice, compress the body of the nematode. You can even see how the nematode, fixed in this way, moves helplessly with its free ends for some time, its movements gradually slow down and finally it completely calms down. Meanwhile, the predator fungus has already managed to dissolve the nematode’s shell with its enzymes, pass its sprout inside its body, which gradually turns into a well-developed mycelium, completely filling the internal cavity of the nematode. In this peculiar battle, sometimes the following options are revealed: a powerful, strong nematode, caught in the web of such a spider mushroom, easily breaks the web and tries to leave the dangerous place. But the victim is still doomed: it only takes a small piece of hyphae to stick to the nematode’s body, so that it will then germinate, penetrate inside and devour it. A nematode caught in the loops of Arthrobotrys lush: Predatory fungi are of interest to humans in connection with the fight against nematodes, which are pathogenic for plants, animals and humans. Predatory mushrooms and plants Victims of predatory mushrooms

Answer from Lera Beautiful[newbie]
Predatory mushrooms (predatory mushrooms) are mushrooms that catch and kill microscopic animals using special trapping devices. This is a specialized ecological group of fungi, distinguished in modern mycology by the way fungi feed - the food is microscopic animals captured by fungi. They may belong to saprotrophic fungi that feed on dead organic matter, since in the absence of prey they feed as saprotrophs. Predatory fungi are of interest to humans in connection with the fight against nematodes, which are pathogenic for plants, animals and humans.

Answer from Galina Gabdrakhmanova[newbie]
Why are you copying the correct answer and answering, it’s not fair at all compared to Svetlana, she thought, but you plagiarized and it’s so bad

Answer from Fd7ywer fsdtyrrwy[newbie]
The world of predators is so diverse that sometimes you can meet another “devourer” where you don’t expect it at all. For example, in the kingdom of mushrooms. Not everyone knows which mushrooms are called predatory, how they hunt, and why they are useful or dangerous for humans. When we're talking about about mushrooms, it is quite difficult for us to imagine that some of them are even very carnivorous. How can this be? After all, they “sit” in place and don’t even have a mouth? What's even more interesting is that people have learned to use killer mushrooms for their own benefit. How a person uses predatory mushrooms and what they are like is the topic of this article. - Read more on FB.ru:

Answer from Kirill shkurin[newbie]
Predatory mushrooms (predatory mushrooms) are mushrooms that catch and kill microscopic animals using special trapping devices. This is a specialized ecological group of fungi, distinguished in modern mycology by the way fungi feed - the food is microscopic animals captured by fungi. They may be classified as saprotrophic fungi that feed on dead organic matter, since in the absence of prey they feed like saprotrophs. Predatory fungi are distributed throughout the globe and are widespread in all climatic zones. Predatory fungi include imperfect fungi of the genera Arthrobotrys, Dactylaria, Monacroporium, Tridentaria, Trypospormna. The trapping apparatus of a predatory mushroom: Predatory mushrooms, like ordinary mushrooms, form mycelium, consisting of thin mushroom threads. However, these fungi have special adaptations for capturing small animals. For example, oyster mushrooms secrete substances that paralyze nematodes. The fungal hyphae then entwine the worms and penetrate them. Such prey is used by predatory fungi as a source of nitrogen. In other types of fungi, a special sticky substance is secreted on the surface of the hyphae, to which protozoa, insects and other small animals stick. The hyphae of some types of predatory fungi form a network consisting of loops that compress the nematodes caught in them (Arthrobotrys lush). Hunting: (observation through a microscope) Here, wriggling, a nematode crawls in search of food. She scurries here and there with her sharp end. But the nematode got entangled with its long body in a system of some rings reminiscent of network cells. She tries to free herself, but it's too late. The cells that make up the trapping rings, firstly, are covered with a thick sticky mass on the inner diameter side, and secondly, as soon as the victim gets into the ring, its cells instantly swell and, like a vice, compress the body of the nematode. You can even see how the nematode, fixed in this way, moves helplessly with its free ends for some time, its movements gradually slow down and finally it completely calms down. Meanwhile, the predator fungus has already managed to dissolve the nematode’s shell with its enzymes, pass its sprout inside its body, which gradually turns into a well-developed mycelium, completely filling the internal cavity of the nematode. In this peculiar battle, sometimes the following options are revealed: a powerful, strong nematode, caught in the web of such a spider mushroom, easily breaks the web and tries to leave the dangerous place. But the victim is still doomed: it only takes a small piece of hyphae to stick to the nematode’s body, so that it will then germinate, penetrate inside and devour it. A nematode caught in the loops of Arthrobotrys lush: Predatory fungi are of interest to humans in connection with the fight against nematodes, which are pathogenic for plants, animals and humans.

The world of predators is so diverse that sometimes you can meet another “devourer” where you don’t expect it at all. For example, not everyone knows what mushrooms are called predatory, how they hunt, and how they are useful or dangerous for humans.

When it comes to mushrooms, it is quite difficult for us to imagine that some of them are even very carnivorous. How can this be? After all, they “sit” in place and don’t even have a mouth? What's even more interesting is that people have learned to use killer mushrooms for their own benefit. How a person uses predatory mushrooms and what they are like is the topic of this article.

Who are they and where do they grow?

Already from the name itself it becomes clear which mushrooms are called predatory. Of course, those that catch and kill their victims are microscopic living organisms.

Such fungi prefer to settle among the roots of plants or in mosses, but are quite often found in bodies of water, especially stagnant ones. Some of them live on the bodies of insects and eat them from the inside. Such hunting mushrooms can shoot spores at a distance of up to 1 meter. Once on the victim's body, they grow inside and gradually eat it.

Surprisingly, mushrooms are practically the only living organisms on earth that instantly adapt to any climate change. We can safely say that these microscopic predators spread their nets right under human feet. And these networks never remain empty.

History of appearance

Mushrooms (carnivorous and not) are such ancient creatures that it’s hard to imagine. It is quite problematic to determine exactly when they appeared on Earth, because scientists practically never come across fossil remains. Most often they can be found only in small pieces of amber. This is how an ancient fossil mushroom was discovered in France, feeding on worms up to 5 mm long.

Scientists believe that even this prehistoric mushroom is still not the progenitor of modern ones. In the process of evolution, their “killer” functions were reborn so many times that it is impossible to count. Therefore, modern mushroom hunters are no longer related

by type of trap

Since some mushrooms are predatory creations of nature, they, accordingly, have some kind of trapping apparatus.

More precisely, there are several types of them:

• adhesive heads, spherical located on the mycelium (typical of Monacrosporium ellipsosporum, A. entomophaga);
• sticky branches of hyphae: Arthrobotrys perpasta, Monacrosporium cionopagum have such trapping apparatuses;
• adhesive trap nets consisting of a large number of rings, which are obtained by branching hyphae: for example, Arthrobotrys oligospores has such a device for hunting;
• mechanical hunting devices - the prey is squeezed by them and dies: in this way the snow-white Dactylaria hunts its victims.

Of course this one is pretty brief information about which mushrooms are predatory and how they hunt. In fact, there are many more varieties of these microscopic hunters.

How do killer mushrooms hunt?

So, predatory mushrooms: how do they hunt and who do they eat? Fungi place their sticky trap rings in the soil and wait for small worms - nematodes. A large number of such rings create entire networks located around the mycelium. As soon as the worm touches the edge, it immediately sticks. The ring begins to shrink around the body of its victim, making it almost impossible to escape. Everything happens very quickly, in fractions of seconds.

Hyphae penetrate the body of the caught worm and begin to grow. Even if by some miracle the nematode manages to escape, this will not save it. The hyphae in its body grow so quickly that within a day only a shell will remain of the worm. Together with the dying worm, the mycelium will “move” to a new place and again spread its networks.

If a killer mushroom lives in water, then its food becomes rotifers, amoebas, cyclops crustaceans and other inhabitants of the reservoir. Their hunting principle is the same - the hyphae falls on its prey, penetrates inside and begins to grow in its body.

Unknown oyster mushrooms

Few people know, but the popular oyster mushrooms are also predatory mushrooms. They do not miss the opportunity to feast on a gaping worm. Like other hunters, their mycelium dissolves its adventitious hyphae, which produce a rather poisonous toxin.

This poison paralyzes the victim and the hyphae instantly digs into it. After this, the oyster mushroom calmly digests its prey. Oyster mushroom toxins affect more than just nematodes. In the same way, they even eat enchytraeids - rather large relatives. The toxin ostearin, produced by fungi, contributes to this. It will also be bad for those who happen to be nearby.

It turns out that these mushrooms are dangerous to eat? No. Scientists claim that there is no toxic toxin in the fruiting body of the mushroom. The mechanism programmed by nature is needed by oyster mushrooms only to protect them from pests - tardigrades, ticks and springtails.

Killer mushrooms are friends forever, but not always

Now let's talk about how humans use carnivorous mushrooms. Can they be beneficial in economic activity or pose a danger?

But predatory mushrooms are not always human friends. Since the 10th-12th centuries, humanity has known a disease called Western Europe"Saint Anthony's Fire" In Russia, this disease was called “evil cramps,” which fully conveys the patient’s condition. Symptoms of this disease are vomiting, loss of appetite, terrible pain in the intestines and stomach, and weakness. In the most severe cases curvature and necrosis of the limbs were observed, the meat was separated from the bones.

For a long time, no one knew what caused such misfortune. Only later for a long time It was found that the disease is caused by ergot, a predatory fungus that lives in ears of rye and forms black horns there. They contain a toxic substance - ergotine. Therefore, today the disease is called ergotism. Bread made from such flour cannot be consumed, since the poison retains its properties even at high temperatures.

Conclusion

Now you know a little more. In particular, about what mushrooms are called predatory, how they hunt and how they can be useful or dangerous for humans. In addition to the fact that it is simply very interesting, it is quite possible that such knowledge will be useful to you in the future.

Section contents: Mushrooms

We have already heard a lot about the different types of carnivorous plants. But few have heard that mushrooms can also be predators... But this is true! First the background...

Back in the second half of the 19th century, Russian researchers, first in 1869 by M. S. Voronin, and in 1881 by K. V. Sorokin, discovered and studied the fact that some soil fungi form closed rings of a certain diameter on their mycelium. Having carefully studied this phenomenon, the German scientist F.W. Zopf in 1888 came to the conclusion that these rings serve not just to passively catch nematodes, but also to actively kill them. Upon further investigation of this phenomenon, it turned out that mushrooms have a whole arsenal of means for catching prey: there are loops, heads, droplets of adhesive, and others.

Observations have shown that as soon as a nematode gets into a ring or loop, it immediately begins to resist, trying to free itself, but this is quite natural. But the more active its movements, the more trapping rings and loops the worm gets into. Two hours will pass, and then the movements of the captive nematode slow down and then stop completely. At this time, a sprout quickly grows from the fungus to the nematode, the expanded end of which is called the “infectious bulb.” First, it approaches the body of the victim, and then penetrates the worm and grows rapidly there. Soon the hyphae of the predator fungus fill the entire internal cavity of the animal’s body. Only about a day will pass - and all that remains of the nematode is the skin...

Interesting are representatives of predatory fungi from the genus Dactylaria, distributed throughout the world. The mycelium threads of this predatory fungus form outgrowths in the form of rings of three cells that respond to touch. When a nematode accidentally gets into such a loop, these cells swell in literally a tenth of a second, increasing three times in size, as a result of which they pull the victim so tightly that it soon dies. Then the mushroom can only grow inside the extracted victim and digest it.

There are species of fungi that hunt their prey in water. Thus, the species Zoopbagus tentaculum successfully hunts in ponds for various amoebas, collembolas, rotifers, nematodes and other microscopic animals. This fungus produces short shoots that serve as bait for prey. And as soon as the animal grabs it, it practically finds itself on a hook, from which it can no longer free itself. And it grows, then quickly digests the victim and sucks it out from the inside.

Currently, mycologists know at least 200 species of modern predatory fungi, which belong to different systematic groups: zygomycetes, ascomycetes and basidiomycetes. All this indicates that predation occurred several times during the evolution of fungi, but almost nothing is still known about the chronology of these events, since fungi are rarely preserved in the fossil record. In this sense, German paleontologists were especially lucky when they discovered in a piece of amber 100 million years old single-celled trapping rings that belonged to an ancient predatory fungus. Fossil predatory mushrooms were also found in Mexican amber, whose age can reach 30 million years...

Thus, predator mushrooms are fungi that have acquired the ability to catch and kill microscopic animals using special trapping devices, and then use them for their food. Predatory mushrooms are a specialized ecological group of fungi, which are distinguished in modern mycology precisely by the way mushrooms feed, and their food is microscopic animals caught by mushrooms. These same types of fungi may also be classified as saprotrophic fungi, since in the absence of prey they feed on dead organic matter, like saprotrophs.

Modern science knows about two hundred species of mushrooms that can attack small animals, kill them and even digest them. Their victims can be protozoa, microorganisms such as rotifers, small crustaceans and roundworms. Science knows more than six hundred species of plants that prey on animal food, insects, spiders and other arthropods; they can even eat small vertebrates - frogs, lizards, rats and birds.

Most plants obtain nitrogen through root system, most often with the help of a special bacterium, and most fungi receive nutrients from the soil. But, living in environments where there is not enough nutrients, predatory mushrooms and plants have evolved - they have learned to make traps to attract prey. Some of them have “weapons” that are more complex than the torture chambers of the Middle Ages. You will go to great lengths to attract prey.

About one hundred and fifty species of tropical insectivorous plants of the Nepenthes species live in South-East Asia, in the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, New Guinea, Sri Lanka and the west coast of Madagascar. Some of them are quite large in size and can catch and digest various animals, including small vertebrates.

Three species living in tropical forests Borneo, which resemble a toilet in appearance are Nepenthes lowii, N. rajah, and N. macrophylla. In addition to using trapping leaves that grow on the ground around them to trap and digest small animals, some have toilet leaves located above the ground.

Nature invented these “toilets” as a kind of perch for a small mammal - the common tupaya, which licks the sweet nectar produced by the plant. To reach the nectar, the tupaya needs to climb into the hole in the trap leaf. The rain will wash the prey into the bowl, where the plant will digest it and receive the necessary amount of nitrogen.

Oyster mushroom

This type of mushroom loves to kill the worm

The oyster mushroom is a type of oyster mushroom that grows on the trunks of dying and dead trees and destroys them. Wood is rich in cellulose and lignin but low in nitrogen, so this sneaky fungus secretes a chemical lure to attract its prey - roundworms.

When a worm crawls onto a mushroom, the mycelium filaments release a toxin and paralyze the victim. Then enzymes are released that penetrate the body of the worm and the digestion process begins.

dung beetle

Another representative edible mushrooms- a ubiquitous dung mushroom. It self-dissolves (digests itself) to release a slippery, black liquid mass within 4-6 hours after the spores separate or after it is picked by a mushroom picker. This process can be prevented if the mushrooms are sautéed or placed in cold water. In the video above you can see the whole process.

Roundworms (nematodes) have more nitrogen than they need because they have a bacterium that retains it. They release most of the nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which is why they become victims of fungi. The dung fungus preys on only two types of nematodes - Panagrellus redivivus and Meloidogyne arenaria; upon contact with it, the processes on the body of the fungus strike the worm, the cup catches the prey and presses on it, as a result the contents of the insides come out. This mechanism, combined with a cocktail of poisons, kills the victim in a few minutes. The threads of the mycelium penetrate into his body and digest the remains of the flesh.

A mushroom that kills with a net

Using a sticky net, the mushroom catches its prey and digests it.

The fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora is an anamorphic (vegetatively reproduced) fungus and does not produce a fruiting body. It builds a sticky network of rod- and ring-shaped elements that adhere to the skin of the nematode as a result chemical reaction. Lectin (a special protein on the surface of the mesh) reacts with the secretion on the worm's skin, forming a bond that cannot be destroyed. No matter how hard the worm resists, it will not be able to get out.

As you know, the most common nematode-hunting fungus, A. oligospora, lives in soil, animal feces, and even in fresh and salt water, where it feeds on the products of rotting plants. Sticky networks appear only when there is a potential victim nearby, which the fungus identifies by smell. Worms secrete pheromones, with the help of which they communicate with each other, control their numbers and determine the location of their fellows. Thanks to this secret, Arthrobotrys oligospora can save its energy and not build networks in vain.

Different types of fungi respond to different sets of enzymes, depending on the type of nematode they prefer. But it's not that simple. Certain bacteria produce a large number of urea, which enters the soil and mushrooms that absorb it. The fungus converts urea into ammonia, which takes part in the creation of adhesive networks. Urea also attracts worms, which increase in number as they feed on the bacteria. The bacteria produce more urea, which stimulates the fungus to create more networks and regulate the number of worms. Thus, the bacterium organizes its protection from pests. In addition, this is beneficial for the fungus itself, since the worms produce the nitrogen it needs.

Mushroom cowboy and his lasso

Some types of fungi, for example Dreschlerella anchonia, hunt their prey using a lasso formed from three cells with a special compound, forming a ring with a diameter of 0.03 mm. The nematode crawls into the ring and breaks the line of least resistance on its inner wall. The osmotic pressure inside the ring draws in the liquid, and in a tenth of a second the volume triples. The ring pinches the victim, not giving her a chance to escape. It often happens that due to the resistance of the victim, he gets stuck only in the second ring.

After the victim is caught, the mushroom secretes a secretion that digests it alive from the inside. The ancestors of these mushrooms existed 100 million years ago in southwestern France. And they lived in the Cretaceous period next to dinosaurs and flying reptiles. But, unlike their contemporaries, the ring was formed from one cell and was even narrower (about 0.015 mm).

Pemphigus

More than two hundred species of the genus Utricularia live in small freshwater bodies and marshy soils on all continents except Antarctica. And all of them are carnivores. These plants are one of the few that do not have a stem or leaves, but only a flower and a trap bubble. This mechanism is present only in this plant species.

The bubble creates a kind of vacuum, pumping liquid from the inside out by contracting the walls. The trap is sealed with sticky mucus, which prevents water from penetrating inside. This mucus contains carbohydrates, which attract prey.

When a small crustacean or any other suitable prey touches the hairs of a predator, the “mouth” opens and the plant sucks in water along with the prey. All this happens at lightning speed, in about 0.001 seconds. The trap is instantly sealed, the plant spits out the remaining water and calmly digests the prey.

Zhiryanka

Insects in search of water land on shiny drops of butterwort secretion and stick tightly

The butterwort plant of the genus Pinguicula uses a mechanism for attracting prey like sticky tape for flies: on the surface of the leaves there are hair-like glands that secrete sparkling drops of mucus. These droplets attract insects that are looking for water.

Insects land on the leaf and stick. The insect's attempts to get out create vibration, and the leaf slowly curls up, absorbing prey and releasing more mucus. Special glands then secrete enzymes to digest the prey. The products of the digestion process are absorbed into the plant through holes in the surface of the leaf. Such holes are unusual for plants; thanks to them, butterworts are susceptible to dehydration.

Their brightly colored flowers with sweet nectar inside are located at the top of the stem, so pollinators are not trapped in the leaves, which are closer to the ground to attract midges, mosquitoes and other insects.

Sundew

The sundew's trap mechanism is even more elaborate than that of the butterwort. The shiny glandular hairs on the leaves (thanks to which the sundew got its name) are longer than those of the sundew, but the mechanism of operation is identical. The glands produce nectar to attract insects, sticky mucus to trap them, and enzymes to digest them.

Flies and other insects land on the leaves to drink dew and stick, then the leaf curls up and absorbs the prey. This rather long process can take up to several hours, but the victim will not go anywhere - it is firmly glued to the sheet.

Carnivorous plants that prefer insects

Carnivorous plants form leaf traps—tall, hollow, tube-like cups containing a mixture of acidic water and a surfactant. Their insect-catching leaves resemble flowers that turn purple-red due to the pigment anthocyanin, which is also responsible for coloring autumn leaves. Near the hole in the trap, the leaves produce sweet nectar that attracts flies, ants, beetles and other insects.

The vertical walls of the trapping leaf are covered from the inside with slippery wax, which helps the victim slide into the pool of water below. If the prey manages to jump out of the pool, it hits the walls of the trap and falls back into the water. A special secretion keeps insects at the bottom, where they are slowly digested. The process is accelerated by a bacterium that lives in this liquid and produces additional enzymes.

About a thousand species of similar plants live in the swamps in the east North America, and twice as many of their relatives of a slightly different family in South America, some of them are found in Northern California and Oregon.

Carnivorous bromeliad

Bromeliads attract small insects by offering them UV protection, but the price for such a beach umbrella is too high

The bromeliad family includes about 3,000 varieties of primitive plants belonging to grasses and sedges; they live only in the American tropics and subtropics. A rare specimen can be found in Africa. The same family includes pineapples, Spanish bearded moss and an endless number of epiphytes that live in the jungles of Central and South America. Many of these plants live in the tops of trees, where they absorb carbon dioxide from the air for photosynthesis. The leaves of these plants form something like a pool where water and tropical tree frogs can lay eggs in these pools, where tadpoles will then hatch. Some bromeliads are succulents and live in the deserts of the northwestern United States. These plants are ideally adapted to a carnivorous lifestyle, especially since insects often fall into water pools and drown. However, only three species are actually carnivorous. The upper leaves of these three varieties support a pool of water, and the outside is coated with a loose powder that reflects ultraviolet radiation and attracts bugs and insects sensitive to sunlight, with the help of a secretion similar to nectar, which these insects feed on. They land on leaves, lose their balance and fall into the water, where, under the influence of enzymes, the prey is digested.

The plant world is amazing in its diversity; some of us can’t even imagine that so many plants can be carnivorous. We advise you to take a closer look at your indoor flowers, perhaps they also prey on flies or butterflies.

Few people know that carnivorous plants exist, and perhaps very few have heard of carnivorous mushrooms.

These mushrooms are not quite ordinary: they live in the soil and are called soil fungi. They feed on organic substances formed during the decomposition of plants and animals. But among soil fungi there are species whose food is nematodes. Mushroom predators have their own tricks for catching delicious worms.

First of all, the filamentous mycelium spreads in such a way that rings form in the soil. From such rings a real fishing net. Nematodes will not slip through it, especially since the inside of the rings is very sticky. The nematode will try to escape in vain: the victim of the predatory fungus is doomed.

Among the mushrooms there are also “arcanists”. They form special catching loops at the ends of the hyphae. As soon as the nematode gets into it, the loop swells and contracts, squeezing the victim in an insidious embrace.

Predatory fungi even received the special name helminthophages - worm eaters. Could these predators be used to control nematodes?

At one of the coal mines in Kyrgyzstan, a disease caused by nematodes, hookworm, was widespread among miners. Professor F. Soprunov and his colleagues decided to use predatory mushrooms to combat them. In a mine where there were especially many nematodes, powder with fungal spores was sown. The conditions for mushrooms were excellent: there was moisture and warmth. The spores sprouted, and predators began to destroy the harmful worms. The disease was defeated.

Nematodes attack potatoes, sugar beets, and cereals. They do not disdain onions and garlic. It is difficult to name cultivated plants that would not be attacked by nematodes. That's why scientists are developing various ways to combat them, one of them is the use of mushrooms. And although there are still many unresolved questions facing scientists, this method is still promising.

Everyone knows citric acid, which is used both in the household and in Food Industry. Where do they get it from? From lemons, of course. But, firstly, lemons do not contain much acid (up to 9 percent), and secondly, lemons themselves are a valuable product. And now another source and method of obtaining citric acid was found. The mold fungus Aspergillus niger (black mold) copes with this task perfectly.

Russian scientists first developed methods technical use mushrooms to produce citric acid. Here's how it happens. First, a film of black mold is grown in a 20 percent sugar solution with the addition of mineral salts. This usually takes two days. Then the nutrient solution is drained, the lower part of the mushroom is washed with boiled water and a clean, sterilized twenty percent sugar solution is poured in. The mushroom quickly gets to work. Four days, and all the sugar has been converted into citric acid. Now it’s up to the person to isolate the acid and use it for its intended purpose.

This method is quite profitable. Judge for yourself: from lemons collected from one hectare, you can get about 400 kilograms of citric acid, and from sugar produced from sugar beets from the same area, mushrooms produce more than one and a half tons. Four times more!

... It was manufactured in 1943. The war was raging. And people had to wage another war... against mushrooms. Yes Yes. Against the most common mold fungi.

Unable to use the sun's energy to produce nutrients the way green plants do, molds use organic matter, either living organisms or materials from organic matter. So the mushrooms attacked the leather cases of binoculars, cameras and other devices. What about the cases! Their secretions (various organic acids) corroded the glass, and it became cloudy. Hundreds of lenses and prisms failed.

But even this was not enough for the mushrooms. They began to inhabit motor fuel and brake fluids. When fuel containers are filled with kerosene, moisture always condenses on their cold inner walls. And even if it is not enough, it may be enough for mushrooms to begin to take root at the border of water and kerosene. The mold fungus, which extracts carbon from kerosene, is especially good here.

But it turned out to be even more suitable for mold fungi brake fluid containing glycerin or ethylene glycol. A film of mold also forms on the surface of such liquids. During operation of the mechanisms, its fragments are carried along with the fuel and cause clogging of the pipes and valves of the machine.

Many people know the house mushroom - a merciless destroyer of wood. When plastics were created, everyone breathed a sigh of relief: finally there was a material that was not afraid of mushrooms. But the joy was premature: mushrooms have also adapted to plastics.

Take, for example, polyvinyl chloride plastic used for insulation. Then the fungi attacked her, and very cleverly, with the help of tiny mites (up to 0.5 millimeters) that feed on mold fungi. In search of food, ticks crawl everywhere, including into electrical appliances. After they die, the fungal spores inside them germinate and begin to destroy the plastic. If this is insulation, then there may be a current leakage that occurs short circuit. Fungi and other plastics are affected.

True, now special additives are introduced into liquid or plastic that prevent the development of fungi. But for how long? After all, mushrooms are inventive organisms; they can adapt to this.

“...The patients were tormented by severe, unbearable pain, so that they complained loudly, gnashed their teeth and screamed... An invisible fire hidden under the skin separated the meat from the bones and devoured it,” - this is how the ancient chronicler described the still unknown disease, later called “evil writhing.” , "Anton's fire".

It was a serious illness. In France alone in 1129, more than 14 thousand people died from it. Other countries also suffered from it. The cause of the illness was unknown. It was believed that heavenly punishment falls on people for their sins. And no one could have thought that the cause of the terrible disease was bread, or rather, those black horns that were on the ears of grain. But here’s what’s strange: the monks ate this bread, but they didn’t get sick.

More than one century passed before the secret of black horns, ergot, was revealed.

But summer is coming to an end. The threads of the mycelium that come out intertwine, turn red, then become purple, even black purple, become denser and form a characteristic horn. All the troubles come from him. But only at the end of the 19th century it was discovered that horns contain toxic substances - alkaloids.

Why didn’t the monks get sick? The secret is simple. Turns out, poisonous properties alkaloids gradually decrease over time and completely disappear after two to three years. In monasteries, as a rule, there were huge reserves of bread. They lay there for years, and during this time the ergot lost its toxicity.

Now ergot has been eliminated from the fields. However, it is now specially grown. For what? They began to prepare medicines from ergot. They cause vasoconstriction.

Sometimes in the summer in the meadows there are grasses (fescue, hedgehog), which have many rusty-brown tubercles on their leaves and stems. These are sick plants. The disease is called rust. It is caused by special rust fungi. The most common fungus is Puccinia graminis - stem rust of cereals, related to higher mushrooms, although according to appearance it is unlike the honey mushrooms, boletuses and other similar mushrooms that we are familiar with.

Rust fungi are very small and have a rather complex development. At the end of June - beginning of July, the tubercles burst and spores fly out of them. This is a summer debate. They are yellowish in color, oblong or oval, and covered with many spines. The wind picks them up and carries them to new plants. They penetrate through the stomata into the leaf tissue, grow and form a fibniz. The mushroom grows quickly and can produce several generations in one summer. This is why the disease spreads quickly. The trouble is that rust affects not only wild cereals, but also cultivated ones (rye, wheat, oats, barley). Scientists began to study the development of puncture, but in the spring its trace was lost, and in the summer it reappeared on cereals. What's the matter? Where did the mushroom go? And how did it appear again on cereals?

Research continued. It turned out that when autumn comes and the grains ripen, puccinia begins to prepare for winter. Instead of rusty yellow tubercles, black ones appear, which contain special spores - winter ones. Each such spore consists of two cells with a rather thick shell, which protects the spores from unfavorable winter conditions. In winter they are at rest.

How did the fungus end up on cereals again? The way is this: after “sitting out” on the barberry leaves, the spores germinate, forming swellings on the underside of the leaf, filled with new “fresh” spores. And when they got on the grains, they caused rust on them. Needless to say, the device is quite ingenious, with the ability to confuse traces.

But not only puncture has intermediate host. This is typical for many other rust fungi. Thus, in oat rust, the intermediate plant is buckthorn. It was noticed: if there are no intermediate plants near the crops, rust does not develop on the main plants.

What prudence, ingenuity and perseverance these mushrooms demonstrate, winning their place in this world!