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Did you know that the rainforest can glow in the dark? Or that it’s home to plants which were on the Earth before the dinosaurs?
If you go down to the woods today, you might be in for a big surprise!
Join us on a deep dive into temperate rainforests to find out some facts that might surprise you.
Read on for our most fun, fascinating and fantastical facts.
Often when we think about rare rainforest habitats, our minds are drawn to the tropical forests such as the Amazon rainforest in South America, or the Congo rainforest in Africa.
However, temperate rainforests are actually rarer than its tropical cousin.
This incredible habitat once covered up to 20% of the UK, however now it’s been reduced to less than 1% of the land area. In England, this means that only about 18,870 hectares remain. [2]
The remnants of the last rainforests are at risk still and face a number of threats including inappropriate grazing and browsing, pollution and invasive species – meaning protecting our rainforests is more important than ever before.
Temperate rainforests right here in the UK, are not only stunningly beautiful habitats – but also globally important ones. They are home to some of the rarest species on the planet, and in fact there are species in our forests that are found nowhere else on Earth.
These species include:
Temperate Rainforests have a vital role in improving air quality – filled with oxygen producing trees and plants. While it’s tricky to show data specifically for temperate rainforests, we know that UK woodlands, which include rainforests, drastically reduce air pollution.
In fact, in 2020, our woodlands removed 32,800 tonnes of PM10 (particles in the air with a diameter of 10 micrometers or less, which can cause health problems when inhaled), from the atmosphere. These include some vehicle emissions, dust and smoke. [4]
Like a portal to a time before humans – temperate rainforests contain a link to what the world was like when dinosaurs walked the earth!
These habitats are ancient ecosystems themselves – but some species that call this special place home are some of the oldest that exist today.
Found in our forests are ferns, mosses, liverworts and lichens that pre-date humans, flowers, trees and even dinosaurs! In fact mosses and liverworts are examples of ancient non-flowering plants that have been around for 400 million years.
OK, so the rainforest isn’t going to be all aglow like a scene from Avatar – but if you’re lucky, you might just see some of the glowing species that call the rainforest home.
Bioluminescence is a phenomenon where a living organism can produce and emit light. While biofluorescence is where organisms reflect a different colour than the one they absorbed. These processes can be seen in species of lichen, moss, fungi and even insects, that can be found in woodlands, including temperate rainforests in the UK.
Unfortunately, most of the species in the UK don’t produce enough light to see with the human eye.
One species found in UK woodlands is Honey Fungus Armillaria mellea, which is bioluminescent, and has glow in the dark gills! The glow from Honey Fungus is very weak however, and is usually too faint to be seen by the naked eye in a woodland environment. There’s also the rare Synarthonia astroidestera lichen. [5] [6]
Woodlands, including rainforests, keep a huge amount of air pollution out of our atmosphere. This pollution can be inhaled and enter our bodies causing health problems.
It’s estimated that the pollution our woodlands removed in 2020 could have caused health problems that would have cost the UK around £995 million in healthcare. [7]
According to the Office for National Statistics, these avoided health problems not only include respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, but also deaths.
Therefore, UK woodlands, including temperate rainforests, have not only helped save us almost £1bn, but they’ve even saved lives!
Temperate rainforests play a crucial role in carbon sequestration. While it’s well known that trees store carbon, did you know that lichens, moss and even fungi found in our temperate rainforests can all help to lock carbon away. What’s more, these species can lock away extra carbon, on top of the carbon that the trees they live on store. This makes temperate rainforests some of the most efficient carbon stores. [8]
It’s not hard to understand how the mystical majesty of these stunning habitats has inspired humans over the years.
The mist settling over dense ferns in the early morning, dappling light streaming through the trees and being surrounded by song from countless birds, has certainly been a source for many creatives.
In fact, temperate rainforests have been a muse for poets, storytellers, artists and authors. One of the most famous examples is Wistman’s Woods on Dartmoor – which was said to have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Our connection with temperate rainforests goes way back to our ancestors, who believed they were magical places.
There were many stories of fairies, witches, mythical beings and magical happenings.
In Scotland there are tales of the sprite, Ghillie Dhu who is said to be the guardian of the forest. [9]
While in Welsh mythology, there is the wizard Gwydion who features in the 12th century collection of tales, the Mabinogi, many of which are set in what we now call the rainforest. Gwydion’s name itself is actually believed to mean ‘born of trees’.
Temperate rainforests in the UK are not just home to a rich variety of plant and fungi life, they’re also buzzing with insects!
This thriving insect life can attract visitors from thousands of miles away. A number of birds fly all the way from Africa to nest and rear their young in our rainforests. Visiting birds to look out for include Wood Warblers, Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers. [10]
Read how 2 lichens were saved, from a tree infected with ash dieback, in a translocation rescue mission in the temperate rainforest.
An incredible story of returning one of England’s rarest lichens to its historic home – more than 350 miles away.
Here we delve into this mind-boggling realm to discover ten of weirdest, wackiest and most wonderful facts from the world of fungi!
There at least five kingdoms in our living world, including; animals, plants, fungi, protists, and the prokaryotes (which includes bacteria). While the animal and plant kingdoms are well known, fungi are often overlooked – but the world of fungi is fascinating! And they’re all around us. A network of fungi runs through the earth in every continent and can even be found in our seas.
Here we explore more of this incredible kingdom to share our passion for all things fungi. From a distant ancestral connection to how some fungi can survive on radioactive sites – read on for 10 wild, wacky and wonderful facts about the world of fungi!
Known as the Humungous Fungus, a single Armillaria organism, found in Oregon, is approximately 931 square hectares!
The fungus is measured including its network of mycelium that run underground, so much of the mass cannot be seen. While it’s unlikely you’ll come across anything of quite that size, there are some pretty big fungi you might find on your doorstep.
For instance, another fungus species, the Giant Puffball Calvatia gigantea (shown in the illustration below) produces large, round fruiting bodies that can be seen above ground. They’re certainly hard to miss, as they can grow up to 80cms in diameter (outside of the UK, they have been known to grow as big as 1.5m). They can grow to such a size that on occasion, people have mistaken them for sheep in a field!
Fungi is a kingdom all of its own, so we don’t want to mistake it for being a plant or animal. That said, while you might expect that these interesting organisms are more closely related to plants – the opposite is true. Fungi share a common ancestor with the animal kingdom, which includes humans, dating back around 1 billion years. [1]
While that may seem an incomprehensible length of time, it might not be in the world of fungi. We don’t have conclusive evidence of how old fungi can be. Research suggests that some of the fungi on our planet today, have been alive for thousands of years.
The ‘Humungous Fungus’ is estimated to be between 1,900 and 8,650 years old! [2] Which means there could be living fungi that were present when the Vikings landed in the UK, when the Romans ruled and even when Stonehenge was erected.
Fungi might be a common feature on your breakfast plate, or in a bowl of pasta – but there are many other foods that contain fungi, which might surprise you.
Did you know that bread, beer, wine and some cheeses all include types of fungi? Yeast-forming fungi are an essential ingredient in the processes to make them and there are many different species, the most common of which is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, used in brewing and making bread.
As far as we know today there are more than 2,000 species of edible fungi in the world. [3] These range from the popular Button and Chestnut Mushrooms Agaricus bisporus to the mycoprotein that makes up the meat substitute Quorn. And they are becoming even more popular with Lion’s Mane Hericium erinaceus being added to some coffees and fungi being used to help ferment cacao beans to make chocolate!
That’s right, fungi aren’t just contained to your kitchen, you can probably find them all around house from your wardrobe to your medicine cabinet and even your beauty bag.
One common example of fungi used in medicine is Penicillin, the first antibiotic, which was derived from Penicillium mould. Other fungi produce compounds that are used to treat diseases like cancer, high cholesterol and even organ transplant rejection.
In the beauty industry mushrooms are becoming a common feature of skincare products as many have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. They have even been trialled as a renewable replacement for dyes in cosmetics.
Fungal enzymes are also used in the processing and production of a variety of products including paper, leather, cotton and biofuels – and generally they replace harsher chemicals in these processes.
Fungi are essential for the nutrient cycles of the planet by acting as natural decomposers for organic matter. This means that as plants die, fungi help to break them down. In fact fungi are the only group of organisms that can break down plant cell walls.
But research suggests that fungi could also break down other substances, in a process which could be used to clean our planet. Mycoremediation, is a process that uses fungi to break down substances that cause pollution.
This process can be seen in action in places like the Amazon rainforest where local landowners are using these techniques to rid the ground of crude oil contamination.
Currently researchers are also using fungi to create filters to clean water. They’ve even found a species called Aspergillus tubingensis, which can break down plastics! [4]
And five years after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, the fungi Cryptococcus neoformans, was found feeding on radiation. [5] Scientists are now exploring the possibilities of this incredible fungus, looking at whether its abilities could help protect astronauts from radiation in space.
Bioluminescence is a phenomenon where a living organism is able to produce and emit light. You might have seen this trait in fireflies in the sky or algae in the water, but more than 70 types of fungi can also glow in the dark. [6]
Some of these fascinating fungi that can be found around the world include Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare (pictured on the right, in the daytime), Jack-O’Lantern Mushroom Omphalotus olearius, and Little Ping-Pong Bats Panellus pusillus.
You can even find some of these luminescent fungi in the UK – though they are rarer and weaker here than in other parts of the world.
While plants have long been heralded for their ability to store carbon, they are not the only organisms capable of doing so.
Fungi help break down organic material, using the carbon recycled by plants, and store this carbon as mycelium underground. This process helps lock atmospheric carbon in the soil, as well as releasing other nutrients into the soil which can help plants grow.
Scientists estimate that fungi could be storing up to 13.12 billion metric tons of carbon annually! [7]
We might still be finding new and exciting ways to benefit from fungi today, but our ancestors paved the way.
Most notably, a number of harvested fungi were found in the bag of Otzi ‘The Iceman’. Otzi’s mummified remains were discovered on the Italian-Austrian border in 1991. He had different species of fungi with him, though the intended uses of these cannot be known. Otzi is estimated to have been alive between 3350 and 3105 BC, meaning humans have been connected to fungi for at least 5,000 years!
While we tend to think of fungi in that stereotypical umbrella form, they can come in a variety of different sizes and shapes – including some pretty impressive lookalikes!
Take the Jelly Ear Fungus Auricularia auricula – a common fungus that you can often find on decaying or dead Elder. This odd fungus gets its name because it looks and feels, almost completely like a human ear!
Then there’s Dead Man’s Fingers Xylaria polymorpha! Just about as creepy visually as it sounds. The fruiting bodies are long and club shaped, and could easily be mistaken for a hand poking up out of the soil.
Finally, a much less scary lookalike, is the Bird’s Nest Fungus Crucibulum laeve – named because it’s fruiting body almost perfectly resembles a tiny bird’s nest filled with eggs! When it rains, drops splash into the nest shape and knock out one of the little discs, which contain the spores, helping them to spread.
OK, it’s all relative – you’re not going to find a mushroom that brings out the blue skies or creates a thunderstorm over your town. But there is research to suggest that some species, including Shitake Lentinula edodes and Oyster Mushrooms Pleurotus ostreatus could create their own mini weather systems. [8]
The science behind this phenomenon is evaporative cooling. Mushrooms release water, which evaporates in the warm air, turning into water vapour. The water vapour then cools the air, which sinks and the warm air in turn rises. As the air moves it creates a small breeze, probably not one that we would notice – but it’s enough for the fungi.
Even a whisper of a breeze can help to disperse the tiny spores and spread them over a larger distance. This trick is especially helpful on hot days where there isn’t any wind to assist.
Fungi underpin the health of our environment and are key to resolving the climate, ecological and societal challenges we face. Your donation could help increase understanding of fungi and get them the support they need.
Chris Jones, the Warden of Kenfig National Nature Reserve, recently found the very rare fungus, during a routine survey.
Fungi are one of our most fascinating creations, and best of all, they are right under our noses – perfect for children to spot.
Britain’s waxcap grasslands are considered to be the best in Europe. Discover the pressures these colourful fungi and their habitats face…
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