Entering the Microscopic World of Fungi
How can I enter the microscopic world of fungi?
In the WDKA Living Station Lab, I entered the microscopic world of fungi through growing mycelium cultures. In this research laboratory you can investigate how to make and collaborate with living organisms. My journey into the microscopic world of fungi has provided me with a profound appreciation for the remarkable realm of mycelium. It has been a transformative experience, as observing fungi more intimately has deepened my understanding of their significance in the forest ecosystem. I would recommend everyone to take a dive into this fascinating and complex world.
Looking in a microscope in the Living Station, WDKA, May 2023
Mycelium
Mycelia are the roots, or vegetative bodies of mushrooms (Mushroom Mycelium, 2022). Mycelium is valuable in the forest ecosystem and beyond. For example, fungi can help remove waste from the environment or can be used as a plant-based meat alternative (Sheldrake, 2021, pp. 214-215). When mycelium is dried, it becomes durable, resistant to mould and fire. It is organic and compostable; therefore, it can also be used to create biodegradable materials (Sheldrake, 2021, pp. 214-215). In the Living Station, I intended to use mycelium as an inspiration. I provide a growing medium as food and Petri dish as parameters for the mycelium to grow, but don’t and won’t interfere with the shape in which the mycelium grows.
Growing Mycelium Cultures
First, I collected various samples from the Brienenoordeiland that I could grow mycelium from, such as tree roots, soil, leaves, moss and lichen. I used gloves and contained the samples in zip-lock bags, to prevent the bacteria from my body and the air from contaminating them. In the lab, I sterilised Petri dishes in a pressure cooker and added a thin layer of growing medium, made of agar, sugar and yeast. In the sterile environment of the bio cabinet, I used tweezers to add the samples in the dishes and parafilm to seal them. I wrote the contents, the date and my name on labels. Next, I left them for a few days to see how they would grow.
Isolated mycelium
Lichen
Moss
Lichen and moss
Leaf and mycelium culture, April 2023
Isolated mycelium
Lichen
Moss
Lichen and moss
Isolated mycelium
Lichen
Moss
Lichen and moss
Moss and lichen culture, April 2023
Coming back to check on the Petri dishes, I was pleasantly surprised with the growth and beautiful patterns that had emerged. From each of my samples, mycelium had grown, slithering over the Petri dish on its search for food. I cut out small squares of agar on which mycelium had grown. Then I placed the squares in new Petri dishes with the growing medium to create isolated samples of mycelium. After a few days these small squares had also colonised their new homes and filled the whole dish. The hyphae had started curling together and seemed to be dancing. Like miniature paintings, they were hypnotising to look at.
Lichen
Moss
Lichen and moss
Isolated mycelium
Lichen
Moss
Lichen and moss
Isolated mycelium culture, April 2023
Looking under the microscope
To look even closer at the mycelium cultures, I used the microscope and quickly found myself getting sucked into their world. When magnified, the thin hyphal threads start resembling transparent hairs or creepy spider legs. The pattern is rhizomatic, threads rupture from each other in a chaotic, unpredictable cluster of thick and thin hyphae. Thousands of hyphae seem to be crawling and falling over each other like wiggling centipedes. The closer I got, the more I lost myself in the divulging rivers and roads, a never-ending map impossible to decipher or trace.
Mycelium under the microscope, getting increasingly more magnified,
WDKA, April 2023
Sources
“Mushroom Mycelium: What It Is & How It Can Be Useful to Humans.” Real Mushrooms, July 2022, www.realmushrooms.com/mushroom-mycelium-uses.
Saxton, Maria. “Mycelium Fungi as a Building Material.” Rise, Oct. 2021, www.buildwithrise.com/stories/mycelium-fungi-as-a-building-material.
Sheldrake, Merlin. Entangled Life. First Edition, Vintage, 2021.