Monthly Archives: May 2019

The Hidden World

This camera shows the tiny life underneath a fungi cap. CameraFi is a USB microscope magnifying camera that attaches to your phone then there is an app that you can view from your phone. The camera found these Hexapoda were found under the fungi that was the same size as a 10 cent piece.

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fungi-in-the-blue-mountains-nsw

 iNaturalist is a citizen science project and online social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe.

Fungi-in- the-Blue Mountains project aims to document the biodiversity of fungi found in the Blue Mountains NSW, and focuses primarily on bushcare sites. It is an umbrella project for a number of other project (Fungi in Fairy Dell, Fungi in Birdwood Gully, Fungi in Else Mitchell Park, Fungi in the Deanei reserve and Fungi in Coachwood Glen) I would also encourage other bushcare groups to start their own inaturalist group which could become part of the larger Fungi in the Blue Mountains project.

Fungi are often overlooked in biodiversity surveys though they play an important role in recycling nutrients, as food sources for invertebrates and mammals, in mycorrhizal partnerships, and as aids to germination (in the case of native orchids). As an example, one project aims to document the fungi observed in the Else Mitchell Park Bushcare site in Springwood NSW. Coupled with already existing data on plant diversity in the park, and observations of bird, mammal and insect species it will broaden our knowledge of the overall biodiversity and interactions between taxa.