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Alternativejamb


Registered: 07/21/13
Posts: 49
Loc: Europe
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Preserving spores in the field
#18709841 - 08/15/13 03:48 PM (10 years, 6 months ago) |
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Good day,
First off, let me say thank you to everyone that has worked to build this incredible community - it's an invaluable common good.
I've been around here for a while gathering information on fungi as well as getting acquainted with the basic 'rules of behaviour' here. I've also found that 'there are no stupid questions'; so, I'll use this opportunity and potentially ask one.
This is my first post. And I've got very little experience in microscopy and mushroom identification. But I'm very enthusiastic about this and keen to learn; so keen (or I'd rather say stupid) that I've bought a microscope and basic equipment before really getting acquainted with the basics of the subject.
All right, excuse my wordiness, here's my question:
In two weeks I'm going to my first field work. I'm planning to spend 3-5 days in the woods and fields looking for several species (simple edibles and actives). Obviously, I'm not bringing my scope with me. I'm going to bring the specimens back home and then do the examination. My question is simple: what is the best way to preserve spores for up to 5 days so that they would retain their morphological features as close as possible to the original ones. I guess making a spore print on paper or a slide would do the thing, but I simply don't know that. And it would be nice to know if the size (I've got micrometer), shape, colour will be close to the prototype if I preserve the spores in such a way (It may be a simple question for you, but I could not find this out myself having very limited time-frame).
I'll also use this opportunity to check how posting pictures from a cell phone works here (I apologise for having two messages in one post, but I want to be sure that I'll be able to post pictures for ID when I'm in the field) and whether quality of pictures taken with my phone camera would be good enough for ID - I would be very happy to know your opinion on that.
So here's a little poor random mushroom from a nearby park:

Gills:

Cap:

Habitat:

Spores 1000x, 1 piece of micrometer ~ 1 ug (.99)(the poor mushroom made barely visible brown spore print, and I could find very few scattered spores under the scope. And yes, I was crazy enough to do microphotography with a cell phone):


Spores after 15min. in Melzer's:

Tell me if this level of quality would be sufficient for basic identification (I could make it slightly better with experience in optimising illumination; also note that the mushroom was very small, approx. .5 cm across the cap and it was already getting dark outside - in a daylight the quality would be considerably better) or I really need to think about getting a decent camera before I get to the field)
Thanks
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Byrain

Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 9,664
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You have either Conocybe or Bolbitius, what's the texture of the cap? A good way to distinguish the two genera microscopically would be looking at the cheilocystidia on the gill edge. Your spore photos are clear enough for identification, measurements of preferably at least 20 spores (10 spores may be enough in some cases) would complete the spore information. If its Conocybe, looking at the caulocsytidia on the upper stem would be necessary too. Ammonia mounts would help too for some groups of Conocybe.
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applesmasher420
CGI and Visual Effects Artist




Registered: 09/12/10
Posts: 3,288
Loc: Kekistan
Last seen: 9 hours, 56 minutes
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Re: Preserving spores in the field [Re: Byrain]
#18710046 - 08/15/13 04:35 PM (10 years, 6 months ago) |
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It looks like a B.titubans to me! 
Though I know nearly nothing about Conocybes :p
--------------------    Everything I post is CGI My Grow Logs!
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Byrain

Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 9,664
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Yea, could be that! There is a little bit of yellow on the cap.
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Alternativejamb


Registered: 07/21/13
Posts: 49
Loc: Europe
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: Preserving spores in the field [Re: Byrain]
#18710300 - 08/15/13 05:23 PM (10 years, 6 months ago) |
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Hi Byrain and applesmasher420,
Thanks for your replies. Actually, I did not ask for a mushroom identification. My question was on spore preservation in the field.
The pictures I uploaded were for the sake of getting peoples' opinion on the quality of the pictures, so that I had an idea whether my equipment is good enough for getting ID while I'm in the field (it's just a demo check, before a real ID request from the field). Anyway, thanks.
Probably I wrote a bit too long post (so you did not bother to read it all and went on ID right away). My bad. Next time I'll be more directly to the point.
Cheers
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Byrain

Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 9,664
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Yea, i see that now, you should be drying your collections (entire specimens) and preserving them in well labeled ziplock bags. You can probably get away with keeping a lot of fungi in wax bags or a tacklebox for a few days. Spores alone are often not enough to identify a species.
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Dr. Sub
Trip Hazard



Registered: 04/30/10
Posts: 626
Last seen: 7 years, 8 months
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Re: Preserving spores in the field [Re: Byrain]
#18711985 - 08/15/13 10:37 PM (10 years, 6 months ago) |
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haha, ive seen worse micrographs taken with real cameras.... Thats pretty dam good for a cell phone
--------------------
I hunt Shrooms
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Alternativejamb


Registered: 07/21/13
Posts: 49
Loc: Europe
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: Preserving spores in the field [Re: Dr. Sub]
#18713214 - 08/16/13 05:40 AM (10 years, 6 months ago) |
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All right, that helps a lot. Thank you all.
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TimmiT


Registered: 03/23/10
Posts: 5,303
Loc: Victoria
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Drying entire specimens is ideal (as Byrain already pointed out). Specimens can be kept almost indefinitely if dried well and stored properly. That way you can refer back to them in the future. Spore prints won't degrade over time either.
But remember that a dried collection is only as valuable as the corresponding collecting notes. A specimen without a written description and notes (like when and where it was collected) has very little value.
-------------------- "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination" ~ John Lennon
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Alternativejamb


Registered: 07/21/13
Posts: 49
Loc: Europe
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: Preserving spores in the field [Re: TimmiT]
#18714308 - 08/16/13 12:06 PM (10 years, 6 months ago) |
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Good point TimmiT - I'll certainly make the notes.
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