Pilobolus ecology
Foos KM. 1993. Pilobolus ecology. Yellowstone Science. 1(3):2-5
Yellowstone National Park is an area famous for largeness: large landscapes, large geysers, large bears, large buffalo, and large crowds. Even many of the mushrooms are large, some haveing caps that measure more than eight inches across. But is is also an area of small things. There are small insects, small crystals, and some plants so small they are almost impossible to see. One of the most intriguing of these small things is a fungus know as Pilobolus (pronounced pie lob olus). Very few visitors have ever seen it, but its influence on ecological processes in Yellowstone is both powerful and complex. While individual stalks are visible with the naked eye (they range from 1 to 10 mm in height), they are hardly conspicuous. Even when hundreds or thousands of these "sprorangiophores" arise close together like a minute forest of glistening trees, they can only be seen by careful examination.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Foos, K
- Units
- YELL
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Bacteria, Disease, Ecology, Elk (Cervus elaphus), Fecal Bacteria, Fungi, Larvae, Lungworm, Mammals, Pellets (Fecal), Pilobolus spp., Population, Rev, Wildlife Health