Subject: Road-loving fungi

From: JeremyBrowne <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 96 17:51:27 GMT

Does anyone have any tenable theories why certain fungi flourish by the sides 
of roads, or even in the tarmacadam? 

Also there are a number which gather alongside paths in the woods: why 
there, almost to the exclusion of other locations?

-- 
Jeremy Browne, Hampshire, UK
[email-masked]
Shaking Hands BBS, Fidonet 2:252/160 (+44 1252 626233, also FAX)

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From: [email-masked] (David Bartolotta)
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 08:27:00 GMT

Some fungi "require" (or like one heck of a lot) disturbed soil.  The
side of a roadway is usually broken/clumped/clusters of dirt due to
the vibrations of traffic and expanding/contracting from temperature
changes.  The same goes for paths in the woods.  There is usually
broken soil beside these paths.  Agaricus augustus likes the
paths/roadways as well as Coprinus comatus.  I'm not saying that these
won't grow anywhere else, it's just that they are commonly found in
this kind of habitat.  

I am NOT a scientific guy; I just like picking/eating 'shrooms and
have spent time with David Arora on forays noticing these things.

As always,

David Bartolotta

[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Ken Sanderson)
Date: 12 Sep 1996 03:52:45 GMT

Some fungi are found commonly around roads and man made trails because 
they are brought in with the loads of dirt and other materials used in 
construction.

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From: [email-masked] (David N. Gaines)
Date: 12 Sep 1996 15:31:16 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, 
[email-masked] says...

-- 
Roads may offer a unique combination of environmental factors such as 
disturbed soil (as has already been mentioned), additional moisture and 
temperature modification.  I have noticed that in arid regions there is 
usually a band of greenery running several feet out along each side of a 
paved road.  I have always assumed that the road surface, being 
impervious to water, served as a rain collector, which would then run off 
to the side of the road.  If a region got 1/4 inch of rain, the road side 
would get this much plus whatever ran off the road.  Thus, if the 
roadside greenbelt was 1/4 the area of the road, it would get the 
equivalent of an inch of rain plus the 1/4 inch it got directly from the 
sky.  Furthermore, roads are good solar collectors and hold their heat 
well into the night and some fungi might find this combination of soil, 
moisture and temperature quite appealing.  

David