I just noticed that Kathie Hodge of the Cornell Mushroom Blog - which I previously praised here - was kind enough to alert me to their recent time-lapse film entitled Pilobolus and the lungworm, which teaches a beautiful message about sharing:
Pilobolus species aren’t animal pathogens, but they have the same problem as the infective larvae—they need to get far from the offending dung heap to get a herbivore to eat them. With their far-shooting ability (sporangia land up to 3 meters from the dung), Pilobolus sporangia might be the perfect transportation for lungworms. To test this speculation, an experiment was designed to test what effect Pilobolus has on the dispersal of lungworm.Two thumbs way up!
1 comment:
is it wrong for my heart to be warmed by a cooperative relationship that ultimately harms another organism? i do like cows. i try to remind myself that there's no cruelty in nature, only necessity, but that ridiculous little amygdala of mine, it just can't keep its opinions to itself.
the lesson holds, though: two can almost always accomplish more than one.
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