erikawalback's Journal

One fungi species I observed was Auricularia auricula-judae, more commonly known as Jelly Tree Ear fungus. A study conducted at Chiang Mai University found that an extract from this fungus could promote wound-healing. This extract is rich in polysaccharide sugars and was found to augment the wound healing process by increasing collagen synthesis, which is a protein important for skin durability and stretchiness. It did so in a mice-wound model and the effects were significant after 9 days (Mapoung et al., 2021). This goes to show how useful fungi can be for humans, even fungi that you can see just by walking around in a park.

One species that I observed in my bioblitz was Trifolium Pratense (common name- red clover). It belongs in the Plantae kingdom, Fabales order, Fabaceae family, and Trifolium genus. Species it is closely related to include Trifolium Pallidum and Trifolium Andricum. One adaptation all of these plants have in common is the chloroplasts their eukaryotic cells contain. The chloroplast allows the plant to photosynthesize and convert light energy into chemical energy. It is theorized that the chloroplast evolved through endosymbiosis, when a larger unicellular bacteria engulfed a smaller one to form a eukaryotic cell containing these organelles. One unique behavioural adaptation that Ragweeds (genus ambrosia, there are about 50 species) have undergone is their ability to withstand a wide range of temperatures. This allows ragweed to invade a greater variety of ecosystems, as it is an invasive species. One recent study (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152867) found that they were evolving to withstand cooler temperatures (where it used to be too cold for them) and spreading higher and higher up the French Alps.