Mushrooms are predatory. What mushrooms are called carnivorous? Predatory mushrooms Who are predatory mushrooms

Kira Stoletova

In nature, there are predatory mushrooms that feed on small living organisms. There are about 200 species of currently existing representatives of the Mushroom kingdom. They are able to attack, eat and even digest soil nematodes. For this purpose, they use special devices in their structure, which differ in a number of features from other mycelial hyphae. They adapt well to environmental conditions.

Characteristic

It all started with the fact that in the 19th century, Russian scientists M. S. Voronin and N. V. Sorokin, conducting research virtually in parallel, noticed rings on the mycelium of some types of mushrooms - but for what reason remained unknown until 1888. This year German scientist F.W. Zopf, after conducting a series of studies, found that these strange formations serve to catch microscopically small soil nematode worms. The remains of representatives of the species were discovered in amber.

Nowadays predatory mushrooms are separated into a separate environmental group. Previously, they belonged to saprotrophs. This fact is explained by the fact that if there was no opportunity to profit from living organisms, they can also feed on dead organic matter.

They are distributed all over the world. They grow on old stumps, mosses, rhizosphere and plant roots. They also love stagnant bodies of water. They are found on soils, in manure and organic residues. Release toxins.

Irina Selyutina (Biologist):

Vegetative mycelium predatory mushrooms usually consists of branching septate hyphae no more than 5-8 microns thick. Chlamydospores often form in old hyphae. Traps of various structures develop on the mycelium. Often, predatory mushrooms capture animals in their traps that are much larger than the hunter. The size of the nematodes that these fungi are capable of catching is 0.1-1 mm, and the thickness of the fungal hyphae is no more than 8 microns (1 micron = 10 -6 m). Catching such large prey was made possible by the emergence of various trapping devices in the process of evolution.

Varieties

Mushrooms are divided into groups, depending on their devices for catching small animals:

• branching hyphae with a sticky substance - protrusions are formed in species growing in water bodies;
• sticky round heads on mycelium;
• the adhesive mesh, which appears as a result of the branching of hyphae in the form of rings, dissolves the cuticle of nematodes and penetrates their flesh;
• mechanical trap - mycelial cells enlarge, the lumen of the ring closes, the victim is compressed, which leads to its death.

Fungi often form a trap when a prey is nearby. They are formed at the moment when the body of the fungus needs food or water. Sometimes nematodes can escape from a trap, but after such contact they will no longer live. Within a day, only a shell will remain of the animal.

Some predators infect their prey with spores, shooting them 1 m away. Once they enter the body, they begin to grow and feed at its expense.

Examples

Predatory fungi in most cases are mostly representatives of imperfect species, which are combined into a group called Hyphomycetes, as well as Zygomycetes and some Chytridiomycetes, representatives of other taxonomic groups. These include:

• Dactylaria;
• Monacroporium;
• Tridentaria;
• Tryposporin.

Examples of predators:

Orbilia: it grows in rotting wood. Reminds me of red buttons. Its hyphae burrow into the soil to hunt. Some champignons also have this ability.

Oyster mushroom: grows on wood that cannot provide it with the required amount of nitrogen. The species is edible. Its mycelia form hyphae that secrete the toxin ostearin. It has a paralytic effect on nematodes (round soil worms), relatives of earthworms - enchytraeids, and oribatid mites. A mushroom that has caught its prey releases enzymes. The digestion process begins. Toxins are not present in the fruiting bodies, so they are suitable for consumption.

Arthrobotrys insectivorous: lives on the surface of the land, has adapted to catching representatives of springtails, or springtails, using a trap capable of capturing an insect.

Practical Application

Predatory fungi are used to control nematode pests.

When growing vegetables and champignons, biological products obtained from mycelium and fungal spores are used. They are combined with the following substrates:

• corn chaff;
• composts containing straw and manure;
• mixtures of peat and straw, etc.

The biological product in dry form has proven itself excellent in caring for cucumbers. It is used before sowing and 2-4 weeks after it, embedded in the soil. Dosage – 300 g/m². It is effective to use the mixture when hilling bushes. The same amount of the product is used for champignons. It is introduced into the hole, sowing the mycelium on top.

Predatory mushrooms in the composition of the biological product have a positive effect on the safety of the crop. A one-time use of the product reduces the number of nematodes by 30-35%. When growing seedlings, periodic use can kill up to 30%.

Conclusion

Mushrooms are called carnivorous because of their ability to feed on insects, worms and other small representatives of the animal kingdom. In nature there are much more of them than plants that feed on living organisms. Their main food is soil nematodes. In the soil there are up to 20 million of these pests/m².

When we talk about predators, we immediately imagine representatives of the animal world with large teeth. Although then the second thought catches up that not only animals are considered predators, because from the biology course at school we remember very well about plants - predators that feed small insects. So today we will talk about some more representatives flora, which are also fraught with danger and live by eating the flesh of living organisms - these are predatory mushrooms. No matter how strange it may sound, among the fauna of our planet there are also mushroom monsters that, having neither mouth nor teeth, perfectly hunt and feed on their victims. But let’s take it in order, let’s find out what types of mushrooms are classified as predators, what danger they pose and what their role is in nature.

What are these mushrooms like?

Representatives of the genus of fungi that catch and kill representatives of the animal world are called predatory, of course we're talking about and their miniature forms. These mushrooms are classified into a special ecological group, which mycology has identified according to their feeding method. Predators can also be considered saprotrophs, since in the absence of the opportunity to profit from animal organisms, they are completely satisfied with dead organic matter.

Predatory mushrooms are also called hunters, because in order to catch prey they have to perform certain manipulations. There are mushrooms. Which can shoot their spores to hit the victim, while the flight range is one meter. Once in the body, the spore begins to germinate and feed on it.

But that’s not all, there are other types of mushroom hunting, by which they are classified. Among them are:

• Monacrosporium ellipsosporum, which have round heads with a sticky substance on the mycelium, with which they capture their prey;
• Arthrobotrys perpasta, Monacrosporium cionopagum – their trapping apparatus is represented by sticky branched hyphae;
• Arthrobotrys paucosporus has a trap in the form of an adhesive network, which is obtained as a result of the ring-shaped branching of hyphae;
• Snow-white dactylaria has a mechanical device for capturing the victim, with the help of which the microorganism is grasped, compressed, as a result of which it dies and becomes food for the fungus.

Predatory mushrooms, however, like other representatives of this vast genus, adapt with lightning speed to any changes in environment. Based on this, it is quite justified that they have existed since prehistoric times, although since then they have evolved and changed more than once, that is, they have adapted.

Today, hunter mushrooms are distributed throughout the world; they have perfectly adapted to any climatic zones. Predators include primarily representatives of imperfect fungi.

How do mushrooms lie in wait for their prey?

Using the example of mushrooms that arrange their sticky rings, let’s look at how prey is obtained. And so, the mushroom grows and covers the soil a large number rings of hyphae that gather in a network and surround the mycelium. As soon as a nematode or other small animal comes into contact with this ring, instant adhesion occurs and the ring begins to crush its victim and after a few seconds hyphae penetrate the body and devour it from the inside. Even when the nematode managed to escape, after contact there will already be hyphae in it, which grow at lightning speed and feed on flesh, as a result, within a day, only the shell remains of the prey.

Using the same principle, mushrooms hunt microorganisms that live in bodies of water, only they use special outgrowths as traps that catch victims. Through them, hyphae penetrate into the body, which completely destroy it.

The fairly well-known oyster mushroom also feeds on microscopic worms. And she catches them with the help of a toxic substance, which is produced by accessory hyphae from the mycelium. Under the influence of toxins, the worm falls into a paralyzed state and the fungus digs into it and absorbs it. However, it should be noted that the fruiting body of the fungus itself does not produce toxic substances and does not contain them.

Mycologists consider predatory fungi as a special ecological subgroup, since in the absence of animal food, they feed on organic matter, assimilating mineral nitrogen compounds.

Hunter mushrooms are also of interest as a means of controlling nematode pests.

A predatory fungus that destroys nematodes is undoubtedly a friend of man, but there are mushrooms that are his enemies. For a long time, approximately from the 10th to the 12th centuries, a human disease has been known in which general weakness, loss of appetite, vomiting, severe pain in the stomach and intestines.

In severe cases, patients experienced curvature of the arms and legs or their necrosis, and in very severe cases, the soft tissues on the extremities turned black and separated from the bones.

When grinding grain affected by ergot, ergotine turns into flour. Bread and other products made from such flour retain their poisonous properties and when eaten they cause such a serious disease. It was later called ergotism.

Tinder fungi are also interesting. Some of their properties are used to produce so-called decorative wood. At the beginning of its development, the tinder fungus, without disturbing the strength of the wood, deposits various pigments in it, resulting in the appearance of colored spots, stripes, and stains.

After polishing, such wood becomes especially beautiful and finds wide application in the manufacture of furniture, as well as in construction for various finishes and decorations. For example, walnut wood affected by tinder fungus from Kakheti and Guria is very highly valued. Under the influence of the fungus, black patterned stains appear in it. And maple wood in the initial stages of tinder fungus is used to make balalaikas and guitars.

In some northern regions Until recently, one of the types of polypores with a hoof-shaped perennial fruiting body was used as tinder when making fire. Abroad, very elegant things are made from its soft mass: handbags, gloves, frames, etc.

Some species of predatory fungi have adapted to live in aquatic environment. In the Oomycetes group, most of the representatives are saprophages (feed on organic remains), but among them there is also a predator - Zoophagus, which preys on rotifers. The name of the mushroom translates as “animal eater.”

The most popular soil predator mushroom is oyster mushroom. As it turned out, this edible mushroom hunts nematodes. True, its mechanism of predation is different: thin adventitious vegetative hyphae sprout from the mycelium of the fungus, producing a poison - a toxin.

The toxin paralyzes nematodes, at the same time, directed hyphae search for prey and grow through it, digesting the nematode according to the principle of all others predatory species. Moreover, the toxin ostreatin produced by oyster mushrooms also affects oribatid mites and enchytraeid worms (relatives of earthworms).

The toxin is not produced in the fruit parts that humans eat. And the role of ostreatin, programmed by nature, is protection against pests (ticks, springtails, tardigrades).
In addition to the listed prey, bacteria also get into the “nets” of oyster mushrooms. Direct hyphae of oyster mushrooms grow through microcolonies of bacteria, form specific feeding cells in them, which, with the help of enzymes, dissolve bacteria and assimilate their contents. As a result from bacterial cells only empty shells remain.

Several other wood-eating fungi, and even some champignons, also prey on bacteria. Like insectivorous plants, carnivorous fungi take into animals nitrogen and phosphorus contained in dead wood in minute quantities (in wood the ratio of carbon to nitrogen ranges from 300:1 to 1000:1, and for normal growth 30:1 is required).

Stem nematode

Stem nematode- These are microscopic round worms, 0.3–0.4 mm long. The male and female differ little from each other. The larva is similar to the adult, but smaller in size.

The stem nematode develops intensively in rainy years. However, vegetative potato plants affected by this nematode are appearance do not differ from healthy ones, only sometimes there is a thickening of the stem with cracks on it and shortened internodes.

The first signs appear on the tubers during the harvesting period. Under the skin, where the nematode penetrates, small brown spots with powdery tissue are visible. As the disease progresses, lead-gray spots appear on the skin of the tubers, the skin peels off and brown destroyed tissue (rotten mass) is visible underneath.

The entire development cycle of this nematode takes place inside the tuber, so the main source of spread is seed potatoes. Several generations of the pest develop throughout the year. The female lays about 250 eggs or more. The larvae emerging from the eggs go through several stages of development and turn into adults. The high fertility of the stem nematode leads to its massive accumulation in tubers. When planting infected tubers, nematodes move from the mother tuber to the stem (no higher than 10 cm above the ground), then enter the stolons, from which they move to young tubers. Another source of infection is the soil, where nematodes enter during the decomposition of post-harvest residues and mother tubers. In the soil, the stem nematode can survive for several years, affecting other crops, weeds and falling into a state of suspended animation when unfavorable conditions. The stem nematode rarely moves from tuber to tuber during storage. Late ripening varieties are less affected than early ripening ones.

Control measures. Carefully sorting the potatoes and planting only healthy tubers. Alternation of crops and return to their original place no earlier than after 3–4 years. Systematic removal of weeds, plant debris and digging of the soil in the fall.

Few people know that there are carnivorous plants, and perhaps very few have heard of carnivorous mushrooms.

These mushrooms are not quite ordinary: they live in the soil and are called soil fungi. They feed on organic substances formed during the decomposition of plants and animals. But among soil fungi there are species whose food is nematodes. Mushroom predators have their own tricks for catching delicious worms.

First of all, the filamentous mycelium spreads in such a way that rings form in the soil. A real fishing net is created from such rings. Nematodes will not slip through it, especially since the inside of the rings is very sticky. The nematode will try to escape in vain: the victim of the predatory fungus is doomed.

Among the mushrooms there are also “arcanists”. They form special catching loops at the ends of the hyphae. As soon as the nematode gets into it, the loop swells and contracts, squeezing the victim in an insidious embrace.

Predatory fungi even received the special name helminthophages - worm eaters. Could these predators be used to control nematodes?

At one of the coal mines in Kyrgyzstan, a disease caused by nematodes, hookworm, was widespread among miners. Professor F. Soprunov and his colleagues decided to use predatory mushrooms to combat them. In a mine where there were especially many nematodes, powder with fungal spores was sown. The conditions for mushrooms were excellent: there was moisture and warmth. The spores sprouted, and predators began to destroy the harmful worms. The disease was defeated.

Nematodes attack potatoes, sugar beets, and cereals. They do not disdain onions and garlic. It is difficult to name cultivated plants that would not be attacked by nematodes. That's why scientists are developing various ways to combat them, one of them is the use of mushrooms. And although there are still many unresolved questions facing scientists, this method is still promising.

Everyone knows citric acid, which is used both in the household and in food industry. Where do they get it from? From lemons, of course. But, firstly, lemons do not contain much acid (up to 9 percent), and secondly, lemons themselves are a valuable product. And now another source and method of obtaining was found citric acid. The mold fungus Aspergillus niger (black mold) copes with this task perfectly.

Russian scientists were the first to develop methods for the technical use of mushrooms to produce citric acid. Here's how it happens. First at 20 percentage solution sugar with the addition of mineral salts, a film of black mold is grown. This usually takes two days. Then the nutrient solution is drained, the lower part of the mushroom is washed with boiled water and a clean, sterilized twenty percent sugar solution is poured in. The mushroom quickly gets to work. Four days, and all the sugar has been converted into citric acid. Now it’s up to the person to isolate the acid and use it for its intended purpose.

This method is quite profitable. Judge for yourself: from lemons collected from one hectare, you can get about 400 kilograms of citric acid, and from sugar produced from sugar beets from the same area, mushrooms produce more than one and a half tons. Four times more!

... It was manufactured in 1943. The war raged. And people had to wage another war... against mushrooms. Yes, yes. Against the most common mold fungi.

Unable to use the sun's energy to generate nutrients, as green plants do, molds use organic substances, either living organisms or materials from organic matter. So the mushrooms attacked the leather cases of binoculars, cameras and other devices. What about the cases! Their secretions (various organic acids) corroded the glass, and it became cloudy. Hundreds of lenses and prisms failed.

But even this was not enough for the mushrooms. They began to settle down motor fuel, brake fluids. When fuel containers are filled with kerosene, moisture always condenses on their cold inner walls. And even if it is not enough, it may be enough for mushrooms to begin to take root at the border of water and kerosene. The mold fungus, which extracts carbon from kerosene, is especially good here.

But brake fluid containing glycerin or ethylene glycol turned out to be even more suitable for mold fungi. A film of mold also forms on the surface of such liquids. During operation of the mechanisms, its fragments are carried along with the fuel and cause clogging of the pipes and valves of the machine.

Many people know the house mushroom - a merciless destroyer of wood. When plastics were created, everyone breathed a sigh of relief: finally there was a material that was not afraid of mushrooms. But the joy was premature: mushrooms have also adapted to plastics.

Take, for example, polyvinyl chloride plastic used for insulation. Then the fungi attacked her, and very cleverly, with the help of tiny mites (up to 0.5 millimeters), which feed on mold fungi. In search of food, ticks crawl everywhere, including into electrical appliances. After they die, the fungal spores inside them germinate and begin to destroy the plastic. If this is insulation, then there may be a current leakage, causing a short circuit. Fungi and other plastics are affected.

True, now special additives are introduced into liquid or plastic that prevent the development of fungi. But for how long? After all, mushrooms are inventive organisms; they can adapt to this.

“...The patients were tormented by severe, unbearable pain, so that they complained loudly, gnashed their teeth and screamed... An invisible fire hidden under the skin separated the meat from the bones and devoured it,” this is how the ancient chronicler described the still unknown disease, later called “evil writhing.” , "Anton's fire".

It was a serious illness. In France alone in 1129, more than 14 thousand people died from it. Other countries also suffered from it. The cause of the illness was unknown. It was believed that heavenly punishment falls on people for their sins. And no one could have thought that the cause of the terrible disease was bread, or rather, those black horns that were on the ears of grain. But here’s what’s strange: the monks ate this bread, but they didn’t get sick.

More than one century passed before the secret of black horns, ergot, was revealed.

But summer is coming to an end. The threads of the mycelium that come out intertwine, turn red, then become purple, even black purple, become denser and form a characteristic horn. All the troubles come from him. But only in late XIX century, it was found that horns contain toxic substances - alkaloids.

Why didn’t the monks get sick? The secret is simple. It turns out that the toxic properties of alkaloids gradually decrease over time and completely disappear after two or three years. In monasteries, as a rule, there were huge reserves of bread. They lay there for years, and during this time the ergot lost its toxicity.

Now ergot has been eliminated from the fields. However, it is now specially grown. For what? They started cooking medical supplies from ergot. They cause vasoconstriction.

Sometimes in the summer in the meadows you can find grasses (fescue, orchard grass), which have many rusty-brown tubercles on their leaves and stems. These are sick plants. The disease is called rust. It is caused by special rust fungi. The most common fungus is Puccinia graminis - stem rust of cereals, related to higher mushrooms, although in appearance it is unlike the familiar honey mushrooms, boletuses and other similar mushrooms.

Rust fungi are very small and have a rather complex development. At the end of June - beginning of July, the tubercles burst and spores fly out of them. This is a summer debate. They are yellowish in color, oblong or oval, and covered with many spines. The wind picks them up and carries them to new plants. They penetrate through the stomata into the leaf tissue, grow and form a fibniz. The mushroom grows quickly and can produce several generations in one summer. This is why the disease spreads quickly. The trouble is that rust affects not only wild cereals, but also cultivated ones (rye, wheat, oats, barley). Scientists began to study the development of puntia, but in the spring its trace was lost, and in the summer it reappeared on cereals. What's the matter? Where did the mushroom go? And how did it appear again on cereals?

Research continued. It turned out that when autumn comes and the grains ripen, puccinia begins to prepare for winter. Instead of rusty yellow tubercles, black ones appear, which contain special spores - winter ones. Each such spore consists of two cells with a rather thick shell, which protects the spores from unfavorable winter conditions. In winter they are at rest.

How did the fungus end up on cereals again? The way is this: after “sitting out” on the barberry leaves, the spores germinate, forming swellings on the underside of the leaf, filled with new “fresh” spores. And when they got on the grains, they caused rust on them. Needless to say, the device is quite ingenious, with the ability to confuse traces.

But not only puncture has intermediate host. This is typical for many other rust fungi. Thus, in oat rust, the intermediate plant is buckthorn. It was noticed that if there are no intermediate plants near the crops, rust does not develop on the main plants.

What prudence, ingenuity and perseverance these mushrooms demonstrate, winning their place in this world!

Section contents: Mushrooms

Predatory mushrooms are human friends

Features and classification of predatory mushrooms In mycology, predatory fungi were first classified as saprotrophs. Later they began to distinguish separate group. The predatory lifestyle, as is believed in mycology, appeared in these mushrooms in ancient times. This is indicated by the fact that representatives of imperfect fungi have the most complex trapping devices. The vegetative mycelium of predatory fungi consists of branching hyphae with a size of 5-8 microns. Chlamydospores and conidia of predator fungi are located on vertically standing conidiopses of various structures. The food of predatory fungi are nematodes - protozoan invertebrates and their larvae; less often, fungi catch amoebas or other small invertebrates. Accordingly, predatory mushrooms can be classified depending on their prey.

Trapper apparatus of a predatory mushroom Predatory mushrooms can be classified according to the type of trap. The first type of traps are hyphal outgrowths covered with an adhesive substance. The second type of traps are oval or spherical sticky heads sitting on mycelium branches. The third type of trap is adhesive nets, consisting of large number rings Such a trap is formed as a result of abundant branching of hyphae. For example, Arthrobotrys paucosporus has similar networks. Nematodes fall into such net traps and are captured by them. The hyphae of the fungus, which has a trap network, dissolve the cuticle of the immobilized nematode and also penetrate its body. This process of eating a nematode by a fungus lasts about a day. A large nematode can break the net and crawl away, but it dies because the hyphae of the fungus penetrate the body of the invertebrate, which leads to its death. The fourth type of trap is a mechanical trap, in which the victim is compressed due to an increase in cell volume and dies. The inner surface of special trap cells is sensitive to the touch of an animal caught in it and reacts quickly, increasing in volume and almost completely closing the lumen of the ring. An example of a mushroom with a similar trap is Dactylaria alba. The formation of a trap can be stimulated by the presence of a nematode or its metabolic products. Also, trapping rings are formed if the mushroom lacks food or water. Predatory fungi supposedly produce toxins.

Predatory mushrooms in the mushroom kingdom Predatory mushrooms are distributed throughout to the globe, are widespread in all climatic zones. Most representatives of this group are imperfect fungi (hyphomycetes). Predatory fungi also include Zygomycetes and some Chytridiomycetes. Predatory fungi grow on mosses and in bodies of water, in the rhizosphere and on plant roots. Predatory fungi include imperfect fungi of the genera Arthrobotrys, Dactylaria, Monacroporium, Tridentaria, Trypospormna.

To combat nematodes when growing vegetables and champignons, methods have been developed for the use of biological products (preliminarily called “nematophagocide”), which are a mass of mycelium and spores combined with nutrient substrates: corn chaff, straw-manure composts and granules, a mixture of peat and straw, sunflower husk, etc. The biological product is obtained in two stages. First, a mother culture is grown in flasks on grain or a nutrient medium with the addition of agar-agar. Then it is used to sow the substrate in 2-3 liter glass jars. For example, when growing cucumbers, dried straw-manure compost biological product is applied twice at 300 g/m2 (at low humidity, for example, 58–60%, the dose is tripled). Before sowing the seeds, the biological product is evenly distributed over the surface, which is then dug up to a depth of 15–20 cm. When applied again (after 15–35 days), the biological product is embedded in the soil to a depth of 10–15 cm. In the same dose, a mixture of compost and fungus can be used for hilling , i.e. falling asleep at the bottom of the stem. This technique stimulates the formation of adventitious roots and extends the life of the plant. If the drug is prepared on sunflower husks, the technology for applying it to the soil is different: the first time is applied two weeks before planting the seedlings at a dose of 100–150 g/m2, the second time is 5–10 g in the hole during planting. The biological product can also be applied to developing plants. In this case, it is embedded in the furrows at the rate of 100–150 g/m2.

According to the All-Union Institute of Helminthology named after. K.I. Scriabin, the safety of the cucumber harvest using this biomethod can reach 100%. With a one-time application of a biological product on sunflower husks two weeks before planting, the incidence of root-knot nematodes, according to the All-Russia Research Institute biological methods plant protection, decreased by 30–35%, with prolonged application to seedlings - up to 30%. Accordingly, the intensity of damage to the root system decreased. In the case of champignons, a biological product grown on straw-manure compost and having a moisture content of 58–60% is used at a dose of 300 g/m2. First, a biological product is introduced into the hole, and the seed mycelium of champignons in the same dose is added on top. The use of predatory mushrooms when growing champignons increased the yield of fruiting bodies by an average of 33%. This biological product was tested by the All-Russian Research Institute of Nature Conservation and Reserve Affairs together with the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute molecular biology and the All-Russian Research Institute of Biological Methods of Plant Protection in the Belaya Dacha greenhouse complex and the subsidiary farm of the Levkovo boarding house.