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Jack Johnson

@jackjohnsonn

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Earthly is the new alien
Studying the Fungi of Hawaii
Bellingham WA -> Madison WI
Busker, Biologist, Naturalist.

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We've got a few more spots for our Hawai'i expedition. taken in Kaua'i, Hawaii by @jackjohnsonn

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a year ago

Scroll to the end for the bizarre mating calls of the Sooty Grouse. (Dendragapus fuliginosus)
In the summer, you may often hear the booming call of this glorious mountain chicken echoing through the cascades.
The males have a strutty dance as they show off and inflate their orange air sacs.
Curious what would happen, when I encountered this male I decided to play a recording of a female grouses call. Much to my surprise, this male tried to fly INTO my car, and only swerved once he saw I did not seem to be a suitable mate.
I also observed, that when aroused, the eyebrows of the male birds completely change color from a mustard orange to a deep vibrant red.
Super cool encounter from back in June. taken in Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest by @jackjohnsonn

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3 years ago

Perottia flammea sensu. the West coast.
Studied and worked up with @kallampero

If we don't share the names, personalities and habits of the organisms we share our planet with, their names can easily be lost. This species seems to have been largely forgotten by our world's mycologists, only 32 out of 426 total observations have taken place in this century.

Fortunately for me, the late mycologist Oluna Ceska shared her drawings and detailed notes of this mushroom online, for posterity to view and study. Oluna's drawings are a fantastic resource, I encourage mycologists from the PNW and elsewhere to peruse her account on mushroom observer and admire her lifetime's work.(https://mushroomobserver.org/?user=2873) by @jackjohnsonn

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3 years ago

Amaurodon viridis
The Toothy Periwinkle Crust

Found on a walk with my roommates dog early in winter. Swipe to see the wild colors it shows under a black light, and how Adding a drop of potassium hydroxide (used to help ID crusty things) turned the drop a vibrant purple. Thankful for the ID help from my pal @plethodon by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis
The Western deceiver.
Beautiful purple friends from a foray at Deception pass state park this last fall with @northwestmushroomers. Even in the dry cold fall, there were things to be found!
@wastatepks
@deceptionpass_park_foundation taken in Deception Pass State Park by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

Echinoporia aculeifera
It reminds me of the Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke. It's a polypore, with the fuzzy projections atop producting asexual chlamydospores, and basidiospores produced underneath.
Found in Gainesville Florida last summer by @kallampero on day @discomycete and I went out with the Matheny lab of Tennessee. Upon digging, Danny found this had not been vouchered in the United States since 1942. This collection provides fresh material for study. taken in Gainesville, Florida by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

Holding Signs
A song for anyone experiencing our planet flood, burn, dry up and change. by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

Chytrid sp. in the hairs of Scutellinia sp.
Sporangium containing resting spores.
Chytrids are a group of fungi poorly known, rarely cared about, and everywhere. You can find them in bogs, soils of nearly every type, ditches on the side of roads, soils in antarctica, fresh and salt water. But who is looking?
I found these on accident. To identify these eyelash cups (Scutellinia sp), I needed to closely examine their eyelashes under the microscope. When I did that, I found these Chytrids had made themselves at home in-between the hairs. I consulted a Chytrid expert at Purdue, showed him a picture, and he lit up with excitement (I don't think many people randomly show him Chytrids). He scanned through his books, rang up a friend, and told me that this had never been reported. Though some other cup fungi are known to harbor chytrids. It is fascinating they are planted on the hairs, as one of the ways Chytrids are cultivated for study involves using animal hairs. It is known that many fungi in nature break down keratin, however I don't believe these fungal hairs are made of keratin? I couldn't seem to find any information on that.

With Fungi especially, finding new things is mostly just a matter of looking closely, with a dash of knowhow and help. taken in Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

To think of Xylaria as a fungus who lives on decaying material is to think of librarians as people who live in libraries. Sure, that's the only place you see them, but they spend much of their lives elsewhere.

Xylaria sp. from Guyana.
The Dalmation Tail Xylaria.

The family Xylariaceae are decomposers and widespread endophytes (they live inside of plants!). In the leaves of flowering plants, and even in liverworts, particularly in the tropics. Their life is one of crossing back and forth between the realm of decomposer and endophyte. Spores finding their way into leaves and return to the forest floor as the leaves fall to again live saprobically. This lifestyle is called viaphytism, literally meaning "by way of plant". Coined by researcher @werdnus_roo and others. Some researchers of Xylariaceae focus on the fantastic array of molecules they create, which have promising antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties. Mycologista @bioximena is researching the pigments they produce!

The diversity of forms in Xylariaceae in the tropics is mind boggling. I had a measly but magnificent sample of it in Guyana.

Slide two by Roo. Taken from: https://wisdom.thealchemistskitchen.com/mycologist-of-the-month-roo-vandegrift/ - Check out Roo's art if you like things that walk the line of heavy metal and delicate natural beauty, reminiscent to me of Ernst Haeckel.

Viaphytism is introduced as a term in the 2020 open access paper "Double lives: transfer of fungal endophytes from leaves to woody substrates" by
Aaron Nelson, Roo Vandegrift, George C. Carroll, Bitty Roy taken in Iwokrama Canopy Walkway by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

A mutant Amanita with pores.
Found in the Sumter NF, earlier in the summer.
@jacobpulk let me know this phenomenon is not unheard of, but is very uncommon.

For my non mushrooming friends - This is supposed to have gills, not pores, underneath the cap.
Iphone photos, nothing too schnazzy. But hey, pretty cool eh? by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

Favolaschia sp. from Guyana. It's field name is "Tiny Red" - Alll of 7mm tall, Lauren picked these up while bushwacking in the Amazon - a dozen miles from the tagged location.
Similar fruits are found in Ecuador and elsewhere in South and Central America. taken in Iwokrama Canopy Walkway by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago

Birds from the Tropics ~ Guyana & Trini.
1) Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Ara ararauna
An endangered species.
2) Black Curassow, Crax alector
Solitary ground forager, with hair like Elvis. Near threatened.
3) Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus
Seemed friendly, trustworthy even.
4) White-throated Toucan,
Ramphastos tucanus. Vulnerable.
5) Yellow-headed Caracara, Milvago chimachima. - Hanging out by the stadiums in the heart of Georgetown.
6) Lineated Woodpecker, Dryocopus lineatus. - On the campus of UoGuyana
7) Festive Parrot (Northern), Amazona festiva ssp. bodini. Near threatened.
8) Copper-rumped Hummingbird Saucerottia tobaci
9) Black-crested Antshrike,
Sakesphorus canadensis
10) Painted Parakeet,
Pyrrhura picta. Another Endangered species. Had to edit the photo to brighten it so the birds were visible. by @jackjohnsonn

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4 years ago