The world of predators is so diverse that sometimesYou can meet another "devourer" where you do not expect it at all. For example, in the kingdom of mushrooms. Not everyone knows what mushrooms are called predatory, how they hunt, what they are useful or dangerous for humans.
When it comes to mushrooms, it's pretty hard for usimagine that some of them are very carnivorous. How can this be? After all, they "sit" on the spot and they do not even have a mouth? Even more interesting is that people have learned to use killer mushrooms for their own good. How a person uses predatory fungi and what they are is the topic of this article.
Who are where grow?
Already from the very name it becomes clear which mushrooms are called predatory. Of course, those who catch and kill their victims are microscopic living organisms.
These mushrooms prefer to settle among the rootsplants or in mosses, but are quite often found in water bodies, especially standing ones. Some of them live on the bodies of insects, while eating them from the inside. Such hunter mushrooms can shoot spores at a distance of up to 1 meter. Getting on the body of the victim, they germinate inside and gradually eat it.
Удивительно, но грибы — практически единственные living organisms on earth, which instantly adapt to any climate change. We can safely say that these microscopic predators scatter their nets right under their feet in humans. And these networks never remain empty.
History of appearance
Mushrooms (predatory and not very) are so ancientcreation, which is difficult to imagine. It is quite problematic to establish exactly when they appeared on Earth, because scientists practically do not come across fossils. Most often they can only be found in small pieces of amber. That is how an ancient fossil mushroom was discovered in France, feeding on worms up to 5 mm long.
Scientists believe that even this prehistoric mushroomyet not the progenitor of modern. In the process of evolution, the "deadly" functions they have reborn so many times that they did not count. Therefore, modern hunter mushrooms are no longer relatives of prehistoric predators.
Classification of fungi by type of traps
Since some mushrooms are predatory creations of nature, they, accordingly, have some kind of trapping apparatus.
- sticky heads, globular in shape, located on the mycelium (typical of Monacrosporium ellipsosporum, A. entomophaga);
- sticky hyphal branching: such traps have Arthrobotrys perpasta, Monacrosporium cionopagum;
- adhesive trap nets consisting of a large number of rings, which are obtained by branching out of hyphae: a device for hunting has, for example, low-spinal Artrobotris;
- mechanical trapping devices - mining is squeezed by them and dies: in this way, snow-white Dactyloria is hunted by its victims.
Of course, this rather brief information on what mushrooms are predatory and how they hunt. In fact, the varieties of these microscopic hunters are much larger.
How do killer mushrooms hunt?
So, predatory mushrooms: how do they hunt and whom do they eat?Mushrooms place their sticky ring-traps in the soil thickness and wait for small nematode worms. A large number of such rings create whole 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, it is almost impossible to escape. Everything happens very quickly, in a fraction of seconds.
В тело пойманного червя проникают гифы и начинают to grow. Even if by some miracle the nematode manages to escape, it will not save it. The hyphae in her body grow so fast that within a day from the worm only a shell will remain. Together with the dying worm, the mycelium will “move” to a new place and spread its networks again.
If the killer fungus lives in water, then its foodRotifers, amoebas, Cyclops crustaceans and other inhabitants of the reservoir become. The principle of hunting is the same for them - the hypha gets on its victim, penetrates inside and begins to grow in its body.
Unknown Oyster Mushrooms
Few people know, but the popular oyster mushrooms - alsopredatory 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 into it instantlydigs in hyphae. After this, the oyster calmly digests its prey. Oyster mushroom toxins act not only on nematodes. In the same way, they even eat enhitreid - quite large relatives of the earthworm. The ostearin produced by fungi contributes to this toxin. Do not be too good, too, and armor mites, happened to be nearby.
Выходит, эти грибы опасно употреблять в пищу? Нет.Scientists claim that there is no poisonous toxin in the fruit body of the fungus. The mechanism programmed by nature is necessary for spring mushrooms only for protection against pests - slow-moving fish, ticks and springtails.
Killer mushrooms are friends forever, but not always
Now let's talk about how a person uses predatory mushrooms. Can they be beneficial in economic activities or are they dangerous?
Mushroom hunter, destroying nematodes and others,pests like him are definitely a man’s friend. Strong contamination of soil by nematodes is a great danger to crops. But since the mushrooms are predatory, they constantly need food, which pests become. So hunter mushrooms have long been an excellent alternative to very toxic drugs with anthelmintic effects, the use of which leads not only to environmental pollution, but also increased resistance to poisons and the parasite mutations.
But predatory mushrooms are not always friends.person From the 10th – 12th centuries, mankind has known a disease called “the fire of St. Anthony” in Western Europe. In Russia, this ailment was called “evil cramps,” which completely conveys the condition of the patient. Symptoms of this disease are vomiting, loss of appetite, terrible pain in the intestines and stomach, weakness. In the most severe cases, there was a curvature and death of the limbs, the meat was separated from the bones.
For a long time no one knew fromwhat causes such a misfortune. Only after a long time was it established that the disease causes ergot, a predatory fungus that lives in the ears of rye and forms black horns there. They contain toxic substance - ergotin. Therefore, today the disease is called ergotism. Bread from such flour can not 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 what can be useful or dangerous for humans. Besides the fact that it is just very interesting, it is quite possible that such knowledge will be useful to you in the future.
