November 28, 2009

I noticed that all the leaves had finally fallen from the huge poplars at the corner of our property.
As Chelsea moved very slowly through them (the vet told me she's the dog equivalent of 90+)
I picked up a random sample and tried to estimate the biomass of Melampsora (a rust fungus) in the dead leaves.
Of course, I'm not being properly scientific about it.  To begin with I'm guessing that the trees had 100,000 leaves (at least)

Every leaf I picked up had at least a few black spots of the telial stage of the rust, and most had more than 100,
while some had about 1000 (see photograph).  My guess is that the average leaf has about 5% fungal biomass (some much less, some much more). I weighed ten randomly chosen leaves, and was pleased when they weighed in at 10 grams, or 1 gram each, which simplifies the arithmetic tremendously.  So - 100,000 grams = 100 kg of leaves 5% of that is 5Kg, or 11 pounds of fungal biomass.

It would take another more difficult process to work out how many basidiospores are likely to be released in Spring, but I know it would be astronomical, so I'll leave that for another day. 

November 27, 2009

Now for a land-based blog. I have taken responsibility for any alien plants
that invade the Park next to our house.
One of these is the leather-leafed Daphne, which grows in many places
along the hedgerow between the Park and the road.
(I have already extirpated the broom and ivy).
The Daphne looks a bit like a Rhododendron, with nice shiny leaves,
but it is very nasty, preventing native plants from growing near to it, and extremely vigorous,
and I am always surprised when I see how many people let it grow in their gardens,
assuming it is a garden plant.
I spent an hour cutting Daphne off at ground level with my loppers. 
Another 6 clumps, and I will have banished it from the Park, at least for now.