1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,920 Oh, look what we've got here. 4 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,080 It was a chance encounter in the forest with a stunning mushroom, 5 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,720 that was the start of my passion for photographing fungi. 6 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,800 Aren’t they beautiful? 7 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:59,120 I think I sensed that these small organisms were something very special, 8 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:03,560 and I began documenting as many mushrooms as I could find. 9 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:12,720 Aha, I know what this is. 10 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:14,120 What have you got? 11 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,800 It's an Aseroe rubra. 12 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:21,080 It's a creative journey shared with my life partner, Catherine. 13 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,520 Together we capture the beauty of mushrooms in photos and in video. 14 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:30,880 And using time-lapse techniques, we observe 15 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:35,800 how the mushrooms grow, their life and their death. 16 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:06,760 Every day we learn something new about these intriguing organisms. 17 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,720 And every day, observing them raises 18 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:11,880 more and more questions 19 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:19,240 Like, why do mushrooms come in 20 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,840 such a variety of shapes and sizes and colors? 21 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,320 Why are some so transitory? 22 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,280 He one day and gone the next? 23 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:49,400 What we do know, 24 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,920 is for mushrooms to show themselves they need water. 25 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,080 So to unearth their secrets 26 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,280 we follow in the path of the rain. 27 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:01,640 Our mission 28 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:07,080 is to find out how fungi fit into the world of living things. 29 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:56,560 There is something magical about the rain. 30 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,000 I can feel the forest drinking it up, 31 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,840 setting the stage for birth and new life. 32 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,440 It's the wet season for this endangered subtropical rainforest. 33 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:26,280 This is our local forest and very precious to us. 34 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,320 Over the past 200 years, 35 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,800 European settlers have cleared all but 1% of this rainforest. 36 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:49,680 They called it the big scrub. 37 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,600 Such a dismissive name for this wonderfully biodiverse 38 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,000 and beautiful forest. 39 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,200 But it's not an easy place to be a fungi hunter. 40 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,760 There are aggressive plants like giant stinging trees 41 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:17,080 covered with tiny hairs that can inflict excruciating pain for months. 42 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,080 And they're a wait-a-while vines, 43 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,120 that hook into the body with barbed snares. 44 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,000 All you can do is stop, wait a while 45 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,520 and carefully disentangle. 46 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:41,520 There are paralysis ticks, 47 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,880 and of course, bloodsucking leeches. 48 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:01,480 Look what we got here. 49 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,120 Searching for a spot to attach himself. 50 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:10,440 But we keep coming back because the fungi in this forest are so magnificent. 51 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,240 And many species are new to science. 52 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,920 For centuries, humans have been researching and naming 53 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:34,920 the life that surrounds us. 54 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,560 But we soon learned that very little in the world of fungi has been studied. 55 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,720 Fungi are not plants and they're not animals. 56 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:00,640 They make up a whole kingdom of life. 57 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,480 Millions of species that have been neglected. 58 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,160 Now this one's got some potential. 59 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,800 Looking at it from above, it's just orange. 60 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,360 But wow, look at it underneath. 61 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,880 It's estimated that there could be anywhere between 62 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:27,240 two million and eleven million species of fungi on this planet. 63 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:30,640 There's a beautiful young goblet. 64 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:39,560 But so far, scientists have only described a mere 150,000. 65 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:42,720 What's that? 66 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,240 That looks like a phallus. 67 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,400 That's partly because the window into the fungal world has traditionally 68 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:55,800 been mushrooms, which only appear when the conditions are right. 69 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,320 Now, this is a stinkhorn. 70 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,960 It's the sort of mushroom that you're more likely to smell before you see it. 71 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,120 As you can see, the flies love it. 72 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:09,840 Now, the way this mushroom spreads its spores 73 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,120 is by attracting flies with the smell. 74 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,960 It keeps its spores in this slime. 75 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:21,800 The flies will eat the slime or paddle in it and get it all over their feet 76 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:24,040 and then fly away and spread the spores 77 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:26,680 so the mushrooms will come up somewhere else. 78 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,720 A wonderful mushroom. 79 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:35,720 Most of the mushrooms we find in this forest 80 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:39,640 grow on wood when it is very wet and very humid. 81 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:12,040 But the mushrooms are just the reproductive structures of a fungus. 82 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:14,920 A bit like apples on a tree. 83 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:22,280 Mushrooms grow from mycelium, a structure made up of millions of connected threads. 84 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,680 Look at all this beautiful mycelium. 85 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,040 When we eat, we put our food inside us. 86 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:35,400 But when this fungus eats, it puts itself inside the food. 87 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:49,480 And as it consumes fallen logs and leaves become soil 88 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,400 full of nutrients for the plants. 89 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,120 These are what we call saprotrophic fungi. 90 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,920 They are both undertakers and regenerators. 91 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:31,120 We humans have a fear of death and see it as an end. 92 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:36,760 But I like to think that these fungi teach us that death is just part 93 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,080 of the process of creating new life. 94 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:05,040 Catherine and I have been restoring the big scrub forest here on our property. 95 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:09,880 It's become a bit of a sanctuary for wildlife and for fungi. 96 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,560 Oh, look at all these. 97 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:27,960 There’s really quite a variety of mushrooms here. 98 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,160 There's Dacrymyces spathularia. 99 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,080 You can see it's sort of shaped a bit like a spatula. 100 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,800 And this Auricularia here. 101 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:41,920 Auricularia delicata. 102 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:50,720 Oh, and these are Phillipsia subpurpurea. 103 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:52,760 One of my favorites. 104 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:53,840 What's this? 105 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,360 Oh, really nice mycelium too. 106 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:06,320 Saprotrophic fungi are also the perfect actors for our time-lapse videos. 107 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,280 Welcome to the Planet Fungi studio. 108 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:21,120 Catherine and I call it our fungariam. 109 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:23,640 But really, it's just a shipping container. 110 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,960 Hopefully that will work. 111 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,640 This is where we capture the surprises 112 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,280 that only speeding up time can reveal. 113 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,080 We see how a tiny lump in the mycelium 114 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:16,640 inflates with water to form a mushroom. 115 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:32,120 And we witness mushrooms spin as they grow. 116 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,120 Some mushrooms wave to us. 117 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,800 Others have the power of resurrection. 118 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,440 Many mushrooms grow like humans, babies that expand 119 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,000 into more mature forms of themselves. 120 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,680 While other mushrooms shape shift 121 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,480 into a completely new structure. 122 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,840 What you are watching are thousands of still photos 123 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,880 taken sometimes over a few days, sometimes over months. 124 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:56,800 One of my favorite forest recyclers is a very rare blue fungus 125 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:02,120 that I found in these forests 14 years ago. 126 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,600 It was the first fungal discovery 127 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,760 that Catherine and I filmed together. 128 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:12,440 Now what’s this? 129 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:16,320 Very peculiar. It could be fruit I suppose. 130 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,120 But it’s blue. 131 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,240 Its mushrooms. 132 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:24,560 It's just growing on a 133 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:29,160 what looks like a seed pod from one of the rainforest trees. 134 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:32,560 And his, just like any other 135 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,520 mushroom is, got a nice stem, but more like a 136 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:38,920 more like a truffle than conventional fungi. 137 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,040 Because it grows, you can see they’re all 138 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,840 over the place here and they grow very close to the ground. 139 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,880 They’re hidden in behind bits of leaf litter. 140 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:54,720 The cap never seems to open up on them. 141 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,880 I've never seen anything like this at all. 142 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:03,000 I don’t know what to make of it really. 143 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:12,080 Photographing this mushroom in all its weird and wonderful forms 144 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,200 has become an obsession. 145 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,960 And of course, I couldn't resist trying to time-lapse it. 146 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:55,000 I went on the hunt to find out what this mushroom is called, 147 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,640 but I couldn't find anything remotely like it. 148 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:10,520 That's when I sent a specimen to the 149 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:15,880 Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and mycologist Dr. Tom May, 150 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,200 who like me, was intrigued. 151 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,680 When I saw that blue incredible mushroom, 152 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:25,960 I just knew it was something really special. 153 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:28,880 It doesn't come along every day that you see something as spectacular 154 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,440 as that that's so new. 155 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,920 And then it throws up all these questions 156 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,720 Blue, it's such an unusual colour for fungi for a start, 157 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:43,280 there are very few blue fungi. 158 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,600 And this was enclosed, the lamellae, that's the gills inside, 159 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:52,040 were all scrunched up and a little stubby stem, stipe at the bottom. 160 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:56,920 And then it was this amazing blue color. 161 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,400 So a lot of things about it that were really weird 162 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:02,920 and they were growing on wood. 163 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:04,960 And that's another really unusual thing about it. 164 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,880 A lot of these truffle like fungi, these enclosed fungi, 165 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:09,520 they're growing underground. 166 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,000 This was actually sitting up, growing on wood. 167 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,520 When you see a new mushroom or a mushroom that's new to you, 168 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,800 well, maybe it's been collected and described before, 169 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,600 but it might be buried away in some old literature. 170 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,520 Maybe it's never been seen by a mycologist before. 171 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,600 So that's when a lot of the detective work starts. 172 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:34,320 So I knew in New Caledonia there were a few of these strange fungi. 173 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,920 I thought that it might be in this genus Leratiomyces. 174 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:50,280 So I had a look at the spores under a microscope. 175 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:57,880 And they were smooth, 176 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:01,560 and that fit with the Leratiomyces, so sort of suggesting that. 177 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:03,160 But that's just the first step 178 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,160 in really putting a whole lot of different bits of the jigsaw together. 179 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,400 So the next step after having a look at the spores under a microscope 180 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:12,040 is to do DNA sequencing. 181 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:15,440 The DNA sequences really help to position things in the Tree of Life. 182 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,600 To untangle the family tree of this unusual mushroom 183 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:32,200 was to take another ten years with many dead ends and strange relatives. 184 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:35,240 We'll come back to that story later. 185 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:09,960 It's autumn on the Tasmanian West Coast where misty mountains 186 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:14,160 and swollen wild rivers herald the start of the fungi season. 187 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,520 It's a bit mad being in the forest at this time of year. 188 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,400 It is often near freezing 189 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:37,400 and torrential rain can drench us and our equipment at any moment. 190 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,880 But the rewards are worth far more than the ordeals. 191 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:03,320 This wild and remote forest is at its most splendid after the rain. 192 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,960 Trees dripping in plump lichen. 193 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,920 Their roots wrapped in slippers of lush moss 194 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:14,920 and mushroom treasures are everywhere. 195 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,440 It is a mycological mecca for fungi lovers 196 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,880 and not just the human kind. 197 00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:35,120 This is something I've never seen before. 198 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:39,720 It's wombat poo with this beautiful little crop of mushrooms growing on it. 199 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,480 One of the fungiphiles who has followed the rain 200 00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:01,640 to Tasmania this year, is mycologist Dr Camille Truong. 201 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,720 She's unearthing the story of the ectomycorrhizal fungi 202 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,360 that create partnerships with trees in this forest. 203 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:11,960 Beautiful Psatyloma. 204 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,320 I'm studying the fungi 205 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,680 that associate with Nothofagus forest. 206 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,440 So it's not only documenting the diversity but also understanding 207 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,000 what they really do for the trees. 208 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,480 Here is a mushroom. 209 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,480 A lot of mushrooms. 210 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:31,600 Yeah, lots of mushrooms. 211 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,880 So if we dig below these mushrooms, 212 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:40,040 we find the mycelium that is everywhere in the soil. 213 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,080 And from time to time, it's making these mushrooms. 214 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:49,200 This is a great example of seeing the connection 215 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,440 between the fungus and the roots, 216 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,600 because you have here the mushroom 217 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,600 and you can see that the mycelium is attached 218 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,040 to the roots at these little 219 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,800 which is called the mycorrhizal root tip. 220 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,040 Yeah, this little whitish tip. 221 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:10,720 This is actually the point where the fungus 222 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:12,960 enter in contact with the root. 223 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,360 So the fungus is going 224 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,720 to go foraging for this nutrient inside the soil. 225 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:23,440 That's why the mycelium extends in the soil 226 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:26,400 many, many meters away. 227 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,920 And then it brings back all these nutrients from the soil to the tree. 228 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,240 Okay. And it's, it's not for free. 229 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:41,360 So it's going to exchange the nutrients against sugar. 230 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,760 So if you don’t bring any nutrients, you don't get any sugar. 231 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:45,880 No, that's it. 232 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:51,120 And that's why there are many species of fungus associating with this tree. 233 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:55,120 And so the one that gives them more nutrients, 234 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:56,680 will receive more sugar. 235 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:11,200 Every tree can associate with thousands of species of fungi. 236 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:15,200 Some of them do better in certain time of the year. 237 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,680 Some of them are going to do better, 238 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:24,200 for example, after disturbance, if you have a drought or even fire. 239 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:28,200 So by associating with this diversity of mushrooms, 240 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,640 a single tree can cope with different conditions. 241 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:38,560 So they are very important for what we call forest resilience, 242 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,560 which means how the forest can adapt to changes. 243 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:51,040 So this forest, they are actually very poor in nutrients, 244 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,120 but thanks to these fungi, 245 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:56,640 the forest, the tree can grow. 246 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:03,320 And we think that without this fungi there would not be any forests, actually, 247 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:07,800 because the trees that they are not able to get their nutrients by themselves. 248 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:11,840 So if we had none of these little guys we’d have none of these big guys. 249 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:14,560 No forest without mushrooms. 250 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,800 No mushrooms, no forests. Exactly. 251 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,960 Listening to Camille, it strikes me that studying the fungi of these 252 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,480 precious old growth forests is an opportunity to understand 253 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:38,080 both the fragility and the resilience of the natural world. 254 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,960 We've known for a long time that plants absorb and store 255 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,280 carbon dioxide from the atmosphere 256 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,600 and that without that cycle we could not breathe. 257 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:57,640 But what we are learning now 258 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:01,600 is that they do this much faster. Wow. 259 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,280 When there is mycorrhizal fungi present. 260 00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:07,400 That Cortinarius is purple, isn’t it? 261 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,600 In every handful of soil in this forest 262 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,880 there could be over 100 kilometers of fungal threads 263 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:25,480 and that biomass also stores vast amounts of carbon. 264 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:35,400 So when we cut down forests, we not only destroy the trees, 265 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,880 but we also kill off the fungi and short circuit 266 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,240 this ancient life support system. 267 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,440 We are only just starting to realise that forests 268 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:03,240 and their fungi are incredibly important in the fight against climate change. 269 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:46,200 A photographic goal of mine is to capture a time-lapse 270 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:51,000 of one of the most iconic Tasmanian mushrooms. 271 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:54,000 Ooh, what have we got here? 272 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:01,360 It's called the pixie's parasol, or Mycena interrupter. 273 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,080 Aren’t they beautiful? 274 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,480 I just love them because the blue, 275 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,640 the way it fades to white at the outer stem. 276 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,840 And underneath you get this pale blue shining through. 277 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,000 This is where the magic happens. 278 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:42,040 Our assistant in the time-lapse mission is an exceptional human, 279 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,640 Pat Harrison, a retired obstetrician. 280 00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:46,240 It’s all in here, Pat. 281 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,600 She’s donated her garage to set up a temporary studio. 282 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,440 I have to get this in a little bit closer. 283 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,440 How long do you think you might need it on for? 284 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,600 It's going to depend on the temperature, but I guess 285 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,200 three or four or five days somewhere around like that. 286 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:05,880 That’s better. 287 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:09,880 We’ve got one that's already grown, but then all the little buds 288 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,280 are going to come up and we'll have a good time-lapse. 289 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,800 At 85 years old, Pat inspires us with her 290 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,240 insatiable curiosity for nature and for fungi. 291 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:37,640 When I retired from my work in Melbourne, I went to every adult education course 292 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:39,840 that I could and one was fungi. 293 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,840 We went to a forest and I just couldn't 294 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:47,120 believe my eyes when I saw all the fungi that was there. 295 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:52,160 And of course we all fall in love with the Mycena interrupta. 296 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:57,440 And I thought to myself, 297 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,360 this is where I can spend the rest of my life 298 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:06,040 out in the fresh air, finding these fabulous fungi. 299 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:23,280 When I first started fungi hunting, I bought a GPS and I thought, I'm right. 300 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,920 But I didn't realise that GPS didn't show up under the canopy 301 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,520 of the trees and I got lost. 302 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:35,320 So I spent all night out in the forest in July. 303 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,400 It was raining, thank goodness, because the next few nights 304 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,560 was very, very frosty. 305 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,200 Ever since then I have permission to have my dog 306 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,080 to lead me back to the car. 307 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,280 And I just want to do it for as long as I possibly can 308 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,120 because I enjoy it so much. 309 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:39,720 No fungi adventure in Tasmania is complete without a pilgrimage 310 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,400 to the enchanted rainforests of the Tarkine. 311 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,680 Here it feels like time has slowed down. 312 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,480 Trees can live for thousands of years. 313 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,320 Logs often take centuries to decompose. 314 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,160 Evolution has nurtured one of the most biodiverse 315 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:24,520 and unique places on the planet, 316 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:35,320 and I have met some of my favorite fungal characters in these forests. 317 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,320 There are mushrooms everywhere here. 318 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:45,480 There at my feet 319 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,160 growing in the trees 320 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,960 and they come in all colours, shapes and sizes. 321 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:56,000 Like this one, a red Hygrocybe. 322 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,600 Now this is also a great location to show you my latest obsession, 323 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,760 which is with the a UV light. 324 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:38,880 These are Ganodermas. As you can see, they’re creamy white underneath, 325 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:44,640 except if you shine a UV light on them, pinks and blues 326 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,800 in the rainforest, there's quite a few fungi that do fluoresce. 327 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:58,520 Russulas fluoresce. Entolomas fluoresce. 328 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,360 And of course the Ganodermas fluoresce. 329 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:10,000 There's been a great deal of interest in biofluorescence since we discovered 330 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:13,000 that some of our cutest Australian creatures 331 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:16,000 put on a light show at night. 332 00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:40,600 Does the chemistry that turns this invisible light 333 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:45,159 into a sparkling array of colours help these organisms hunt? 334 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,920 Or is it an ancient form of camouflage? 335 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,120 Or could it be the opposite a way to recognize 336 00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:52,960 one of your own kind? 337 00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:58,000 It's a mystery still to be unraveled. 338 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:02,320 But in the meantime, I'm loving the discovery of shining a light 339 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,040 on the UV world of mushrooms. 340 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:37,520 It's been six days since we pressed 341 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,920 start on a Pixie’s parasol time-lapse. 342 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:46,400 Hopefully all has gone to plan. 343 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:53,760 The moment of truth. 344 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:13,080 Wow, 4,350 frames 345 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,000 and looking really promising. 346 00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:26,080 Next we're going zombie hunting. 347 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:42,120 Our destination is a valley in the shadow of a mountain 348 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:44,720 that was once part of an ancient volcano. 349 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:49,520 This spectacular peak attracts dramatic weather, 350 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,560 inspiring its Bundjalung name Wollumbin, 351 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:56,600 which means cloud catcher. 352 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:18,760 Our zombie hunting guide 353 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,120 is Donovan Teal a fungi enthusiast 354 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,200 we met in our network on the internet. 355 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:30,280 Donovan was posting 356 00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,800 very creepy photos. 357 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,000 Thousands of tiny insects 358 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:40,200 being killed and consumed by equally tiny fungi. 359 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:43,360 A miniature battleground 360 00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,320 on the underside of leaves. 361 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,360 He made many of his discoveries, 362 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:02,200 clearing weeds like these small camphor laurel trees, 363 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,160 which in this part of the world can be very destructive 364 00:39:05,240 --> 00:39:08,240 as they aggressively compete with native vegetation. 365 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:10,160 This is a good one. 366 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,840 So you just find them on the underside of the leaves here, do you? 367 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,960 Yes, it's quite protected for them on the underside of the leaf. 368 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,240 So you get a beautiful sort of change in temperature 369 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:27,480 and look at that. 370 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:29,600 Some of them are particularly obvious. 371 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:31,640 I mean, there’s a nice bright yellow on that one. 372 00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:35,360 When you do get a nice bright one like that, they just pop. 373 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:36,720 Yeah. 374 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:43,080 It's really, really small on this camera. 375 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:47,760 But I'll show you in greater detail later or not get a more powerful lens on it. 376 00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:50,400 And, hopefully I’ll get some really beautiful photographs. 377 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,160 Got a great little jumping spider here. 378 00:39:58,240 --> 00:40:00,720 You can see the fungus has completely covered the soft tissue 379 00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:04,920 and left some of the harder bony parts of its face exposed. 380 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:09,320 How did you know to look under leaves of trees? 381 00:40:09,400 --> 00:40:10,880 What started you doing that? 382 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,760 I love spiders, so I was out looking for all the spiders in the 383 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,200 so many different spiders here right, and I 384 00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:19,480 I found this beautiful spider and I was like, wait a minute, 385 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,320 this things got like 12 legs. 386 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:24,440 And it was only when I posted it to Facebook to a spider ID group 387 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:26,680 that someone was like, yeah, that's that's a spider 388 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,320 that's actually been taken over by one of these zombie fungus. 389 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:33,600 And and then I realized that I, you know, I had to look out for things other than 390 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,160 what I was expecting to see. 391 00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:40,440 These specimens are so small, they're hard to see with the naked eye. 392 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,840 I think this one was my favorite. 393 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,640 It's has all, like, octopus tentacles. 394 00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:48,720 Little bit larger than the other ones, too. 395 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:49,720 Oh, wow. 396 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:51,760 There’s spikes everywhere. 397 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,480 Even with a magnifying glass, it is difficult to see exactly 398 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:56,560 what is happening. 399 00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:58,240 I wonder what it was. 400 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:05,120 But with high resolution photography and intense magnification, 401 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:07,960 all is revealed. 402 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,000 This is the stuff of nightmares 403 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:26,760 or an example of the magnificence of nature. 404 00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:35,560 A fungus infects an insect. 405 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,280 It infiltrates the body, 406 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:41,760 slowly digesting it from within. 407 00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:47,280 Once the mycelium has taken over the body, 408 00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,360 it's time to reproduce. 409 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,480 That's when these fungi become even more bizarre. 410 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:57,560 Surreal structures start to grow, 411 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,240 releasing billions of spores. 412 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:14,440 Throughout this process, the insect is secured to the bottom of the leaf, 413 00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:19,240 with hundreds of gossamer, thin fungal threads holding the prey in place. 414 00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:22,680 It reminds me of the scene in the book 415 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:26,080 Gulliver's Travels with Gulliver, pinned to the ground 416 00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,880 by the miniature army of Lilliput. 417 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:31,680 I love finding these little guys. 418 00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:35,000 It is it is really like like fossicking for gold, right? 419 00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:38,640 Like not from this world. 420 00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:43,280 Now, you might be wondering what is the relevance of this microscopic struggle? 421 00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:46,720 Donovan had the same question 422 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,840 and did something very clever. 423 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:51,800 He boxed up his specimens 424 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,320 and sent them to my mycologist, Professor Roger Shivas. 425 00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:59,680 Roger specialises in the health of crops, 426 00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:02,040 the organisms that attack them 427 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:04,360 and potential biological controls. 428 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:08,280 Donovan is sending us specimens 429 00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:11,440 of entomopathogenic fungi, fungi on insects. 430 00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:13,960 There's been some interest in these fungi 431 00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:17,200 as biological control agents for insect pests. 432 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:19,720 But what Donovan's finding 433 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:24,080 essentially native fungi on native insects 434 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:27,000 and are basically new to science. 435 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:34,960 I'm a taxonomist and that means I identify Donovan's specimens 436 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,920 and it's impossible to identify most of them. 437 00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:40,080 We don't have names for them. 438 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:46,800 So the old method, traditional method of taxonomy was to collect 439 00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:49,840 something, kill it, dry it, press it, store it and describe it 440 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:55,360 and what it looked like, which doesn't really tell you what it is, 441 00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:59,240 because things that look the same, for example, everything that flies 442 00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:02,000 is not a bird, it might be an insect, it might be a mammal. 443 00:44:04,720 --> 00:44:05,880 So we need to look at the DNA. 444 00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:07,960 So what our group started to do now 445 00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:11,760 is we've decided to base the taxonomy totally on DNA. 446 00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,720 It's the only reliable method. 447 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,960 But more than that, we're preserving and keeping these cultures 448 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,240 as living specimens, which we can make available to science. 449 00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:38,560 There's a seed bank in Europe for plant species. 450 00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:43,880 What we want to do is a fungal bank for fungal species. 451 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:49,040 So one of the interesting fungi that Donovan found was a small Penicillium 452 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:55,440 species in this same genus from which the antibiotic Penicillin is produced. 453 00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:59,440 So we’re going to name this fungus that Donovan's found Penicillium tealii 454 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:05,440 after Donovan, in recognition of all his efforts in discovering it. 455 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:07,600 Because Donovan is the discoverer of this fungus. 456 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:12,880 Oh, I got a good one for you. Oh where’s that? 457 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:16,120 Look at that. We got an ant. 458 00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:17,720 Oh, wow. 459 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:20,200 You can see the fruiting body coming out of the top. 460 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:25,360 It's exciting for me because I'm just a citizen scientist 461 00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:29,720 out there having a look, taking photos and sort of passing this stuff 462 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:33,600 onto the experts and then just feeding off their knowledge. 463 00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:35,880 It's every day something new. 464 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,080 You've opened up a whole new world for me. 465 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:43,120 I mean, I never realized that this miniature world of Cordyceps existed 466 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:47,520 underneath leaves in such profusion as well. 467 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,200 Clive from the Bureau with your weekly weather update f 468 00:45:57,280 --> 00:45:59,360 or Sunday the 12th of June. 469 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:04,240 Cold front in the southwest wind, rain for the far southern, South Australia. 470 00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:08,560 As a winter blast of the ice cold air moves across Australia, 471 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:12,800 we start hearing forecasts of heavy rain heading for the desert. 472 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,680 To follow this rain means a 2,000 kilometer trek 473 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:42,240 towards the centre of Australia. 474 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:44,360 That's like driving from London to Rome. 475 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:00,520 There are not too many places I've driven where a GPS says 476 00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:03,520 that the road and the river are in the same spot. 477 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:08,160 But that's because this riverbed is usually dry. 478 00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:16,560 The Flinders Ranges are a place of extreme weather. 479 00:48:17,720 --> 00:48:19,400 Droughts and intense summer 480 00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:21,480 heatwaves are regular events 481 00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:27,040 and then when it does rain it can transform this landscape, 482 00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:29,800 triggering the desert to bloom. 483 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:35,520 Oh, that's pretty. 484 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:39,320 When I was a young man, I worked in the mines 485 00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:43,520 and I still have a fascination with the story of rocks. 486 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,200 And the Flinders Ranges are full of rocks. 487 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:51,920 The ancestors of these crumbling hills were once mountains, 488 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:55,120 some 5,000 meters higher than today. 489 00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:59,560 And these fossilized ripples are a window into a time 490 00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:02,280 when this baked valley was a shallow sea. 491 00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:08,680 So you may be wondering why a couple of fungi hunters 492 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:10,920 would come to such a harsh land. 493 00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:13,400 Surely there can be no fungi here. 494 00:49:17,240 --> 00:49:20,880 But the truth is that few desert plants would survive 495 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:23,480 without their fungal partners. 496 00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:29,920 These are Boletes. Now these mushrooms, don't have gills. 497 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,240 They have little round pores like foam rubber. 498 00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:37,760 The spores are contained within the little pores. 499 00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:48,320 Wow. Look at all this mycelium. 500 00:49:50,240 --> 00:49:55,320 As the land soaks up the recent showers, the underground network of life 501 00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:58,960 seizes the moment for renewal and rebirth. 502 00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:16,880 What have you got there, Steve? 503 00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:19,200 I’ve got a beautiful little puffball. 504 00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:21,840 Right there. 505 00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:25,760 Both the decomposers and the mycorrhizal fungi, 506 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:29,280 send forth their mushrooms, reproductive bodies 507 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:32,320 housing billions of spores. 508 00:50:41,720 --> 00:50:46,400 What have we got here? 509 00:50:46,480 --> 00:50:49,040 That couldn't be, could it? 510 00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,320 This is the desert shaggy mane. 511 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:52,440 It is. 512 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:53,800 Or, Podaxis pistillaris, 513 00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:57,040 a classic desert mushroom, 514 00:50:57,120 --> 00:51:00,000 found all over the world. 515 00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:02,920 There's another one. It’s another two. 516 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:06,640 And there are a couple of beauties. 517 00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:09,640 The hard wide pod like structure is thought 518 00:51:09,720 --> 00:51:11,960 to protect the spores developing inside. 519 00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:14,720 There’s masses of spores inside. 520 00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:19,400 It dries out in the desert heat, becomes brittle, 521 00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:23,720 and as it peels away, a powdery mass of spores is exposed, 522 00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:27,200 ready to be dispersed 523 00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:31,240 by the nudge of a passing animal or a puff of air. 524 00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:47,080 tapped between the flutes of the gills. 525 00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:56,520 The spores attract moisture, water droplets form 526 00:51:56,880 --> 00:52:00,000 catapulting millions of tiny spores 527 00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:01,640 into the air. 528 00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:39,960 We have only recently understood how these trillions of tiny particles 529 00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:43,600 created by fungi are an essential part 530 00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:47,000 of the global climate story. 531 00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:50,400 Along with dust and pollen and pollution, 532 00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:54,560 they become scaffolding for water droplets to form. 533 00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:04,480 They are nature's cloud seeders, helping to create the rain 534 00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:09,280 so critical to life on our planet and to us. 535 00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:24,200 Today, we’re leaving the majesty of the Flinders Ranges behind 536 00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:26,360 and traveling 10 hours south 537 00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:29,440 to spend the night in a commercial pine forest. 538 00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:42,600 This plantation is rumoured to be the home of a fascinating, 539 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:45,200 otherworldly mushroom. 540 00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:50,520 We're going ghost hunting. 541 00:53:56,600 --> 00:54:01,360 We're surprised to see lots of native fungi here, but tonight we're really only 542 00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:04,920 interested in one species, the ghost mushroom, 543 00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:07,360 because it glows in the dark. 544 00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:23,560 There are over a hundred known species of bioluminescent 545 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:26,680 fungi in the world. 546 00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:30,120 This is the subtropical species we find at home, 547 00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:34,120 Mycena chlorophos, and it has been a charismatic character 548 00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:36,840 in many of our time-lapses. 549 00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:15,160 Bioluminescent mushrooms produce their own light. 550 00:55:15,240 --> 00:55:19,240 The main compound is Luciferin, which literally means 551 00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:21,040 the light bearer. 552 00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:25,000 Why do they glow? 553 00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:29,920 Well, the main theory is to attract insects that get covered in spores 554 00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:32,560 and then scatter them wherever they go. 555 00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:37,720 But in our fungarium, we've noticed that it's slugs 556 00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:41,360 and snails that love to eat Mycena chlorophos 557 00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,880 and then spread the spores in their slimy poo. 558 00:55:54,760 --> 00:56:00,160 Tonight in Ghost Mushroom Lane our challenge is to find and time-lapse 559 00:56:00,240 --> 00:56:04,760 the local bioluminescent fungus Omphalotus nidiformis. 560 00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:07,320 There's one 561 00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:10,960 and wow, there's another one. 562 00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:13,400 What a beauty. 563 00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:16,160 This is a gorgeous specimen, 564 00:56:16,240 --> 00:56:19,720 but to time-lapse in the field is going to be tricky. 565 00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:23,800 The moon is nearly full, which is not ideal conditions, 566 00:56:23,880 --> 00:56:28,520 far too much light, and we only have one night to do it in. 567 00:56:29,720 --> 00:56:33,120 The plan is to take a shot every 30 seconds. 568 00:56:33,440 --> 00:56:36,280 So if we hang here for around three hours, 569 00:56:36,360 --> 00:56:39,320 that gives us 15 seconds of time-lapse, 570 00:56:40,000 --> 00:56:42,760 hopefully just enough to give us a sense 571 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:44,280 its ghostly beauty. 572 00:57:10,760 --> 00:57:14,600 Before we leave South Australia we have one more stop 573 00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:17,160 the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide. 574 00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:28,880 Dr. Teresa Lebel is the senior botanist 575 00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:31,680 and mycologist at the State Herbarium. 576 00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:35,840 Remember that mystery blue mushroom? 577 00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:42,400 Well, for the past ten years, Teresa has been the lead detective 578 00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:46,120 trying to solve the puzzle of it's family tree. 579 00:57:50,040 --> 00:57:54,480 Teresa had been researching similar truffle-like mushrooms. 580 00:57:56,960 --> 00:58:02,200 The first possible relatives were blue, red and green pouch mushrooms. 581 00:58:03,400 --> 00:58:08,640 I first got to see this particular mushroom in the field in New Caledonia. 582 00:58:08,720 --> 00:58:12,200 There was a blue and a blue green and a red version of it, 583 00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:15,240 and I wasn't certain if they were all the same species or 584 00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:18,240 if we were dealing with three completely different things. 585 00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:26,440 I then managed to do some microscopy on them 586 00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:30,760 and it seemed to me that the red one was definitely different. 587 00:58:30,840 --> 00:58:34,040 But the two blue greens, I was still uncertain as to 588 00:58:34,120 --> 00:58:36,520 how different they really were. 589 00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:41,200 And then I did some very preliminary DNA work, 590 00:58:41,280 --> 00:58:45,560 and I didn't believe the results that I got back because they said 591 00:58:45,640 --> 00:58:49,960 they were completely different families, that these two things belong to. 592 00:58:50,640 --> 00:58:52,080 So back to the drawing board. 593 00:58:52,160 --> 00:58:55,000 I wasn't certain that these were the same thing or not. 594 00:58:57,000 --> 00:59:00,960 So I had done trips to New Zealand and I knew there was some fungi 595 00:59:01,040 --> 00:59:04,680 there that had very similar features to the New Caledonian ones. 596 00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:09,640 When I did the microscopy, they turned out to be completely different things 597 00:59:09,720 --> 00:59:14,120 and did not appear to be even remotely related to the New Caledonian ones. 598 00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:20,160 I then went back to the herbarium collections and started digging 599 00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:26,680 through all of the undescribed material that might possibly be one of these fungi. 600 00:59:26,760 --> 00:59:30,360 And then there was one collection from Lord Howe Island, 601 00:59:30,800 --> 00:59:33,960 and it was a single fruit body, not in great condition. 602 00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:38,720 I did the microscopy and it matched the New South Wales one. 603 00:59:38,800 --> 00:59:44,000 The next step was to sequence the DNA of all the suspects. 604 00:59:46,240 --> 00:59:48,800 This time the results were conclusive. 605 00:59:49,440 --> 00:59:53,680 One of Teresa's specimens from New Caledonia, the specimen 606 00:59:53,760 --> 00:59:58,920 from our forests in New South Wales, and the specimen from Lord Howe Island, 607 00:59:59,440 --> 01:00:03,720 are not only the same species, but they are a new species. 608 01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:12,280 It took ten years, 609 01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:16,200 but this mushroom now has a family and its species is 610 01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:20,920 Coprinopsis pulchricaerulea which means beautiful blue. 611 01:00:22,000 --> 01:00:23,680 It even has a nickname 612 01:00:23,760 --> 01:00:24,920 Frosty Blue. 613 01:00:33,720 --> 01:00:35,920 What the DNA doesn't tell us 614 01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:39,240 is how this fungus interacts with other organisms. 615 01:00:39,960 --> 01:00:41,640 How important is it? 616 01:00:41,720 --> 01:00:45,840 And why has it only been found in three places on the planet? 617 01:00:47,720 --> 01:00:50,560 Maybe there are answers on Lord Howe Island. 618 01:00:51,120 --> 01:00:52,720 We can’t resist. 619 01:00:52,800 --> 01:00:56,160 We head east to see if we can find frosty blue on this 620 01:00:56,240 --> 01:00:58,400 remnant of an ocean volcano. 621 01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:38,600 Lord Howe Island is spectacular. 622 01:01:39,320 --> 01:01:43,040 It was World Heritage listed back in 1982 623 01:01:43,120 --> 01:01:45,800 to honour its incredible biodiversity 624 01:01:46,360 --> 01:01:50,200 and to protect rare species of plants and animals 625 01:01:50,280 --> 01:01:52,560 that only exist on this island. 626 01:01:56,400 --> 01:02:01,080 Most of Lord Howe is a nature reserve surrounded by a marine park. 627 01:02:01,840 --> 01:02:05,760 It's probably Australia's last unspoiled island paradise. 628 01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:11,160 And it's one of the safest spots we've been to. 629 01:02:11,240 --> 01:02:15,640 The only place in Australia without snakes, poisonous spiders, 630 01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:18,400 dangerous sharks or crocodiles. 631 01:02:21,640 --> 01:02:25,960 But hunting down a rare mushroom in a forest we don't know, 632 01:02:26,040 --> 01:02:28,440 well, we're prepared to fail. 633 01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:36,600 I don't believe it. 634 01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:38,600 It's the blues. 635 01:02:38,680 --> 01:02:41,200 We came here looking for them, 636 01:02:41,280 --> 01:02:43,400 but I never really expected to find them. 637 01:02:52,120 --> 01:02:53,480 They’re beauties aren’t they? 638 01:02:55,520 --> 01:02:56,800 You can see 639 01:02:57,240 --> 01:02:59,840 two beautiful mushrooms here. 640 01:03:00,960 --> 01:03:02,480 There's more back here. 641 01:03:04,800 --> 01:03:06,480 Oh, there's three of them? 642 01:03:08,640 --> 01:03:10,120 Blue, green. 643 01:03:11,640 --> 01:03:13,440 And another one over here. 644 01:03:15,840 --> 01:03:18,280 This one has been eaten by something. 645 01:03:18,360 --> 01:03:23,440 Perhaps a bird, but hard to tell. It could have been a slug or a snail, in fact. 646 01:03:27,480 --> 01:03:31,120 It's very unusual to find six of these blues together 647 01:03:31,200 --> 01:03:34,120 and such beautiful specimens as well. 648 01:03:37,400 --> 01:03:40,960 When we share our frosty blue discovery with some of the locals, 649 01:03:41,520 --> 01:03:45,800 they tell us we have to speak to Lord Howe's resident naturalist. 650 01:03:49,840 --> 01:03:54,040 Ian Hutton is a botanist who has been exploring and documenting 651 01:03:54,120 --> 01:03:57,680 the Island's natural history since he was a young man. 652 01:03:57,760 --> 01:04:04,000 Well, I was working for the weather bureau and I took a science degree in biology, 653 01:04:04,080 --> 01:04:07,880 and I thought before I leave the weather bureau, I thought maybe I should go 654 01:04:07,960 --> 01:04:11,920 to one of their really nice, exotic postings just for two years. 655 01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:14,360 And Lord Howe Island came up and I thought, Well, that's it. 656 01:04:14,440 --> 01:04:18,120 I'll do two years at Lord Howe Island, then I'll go and work in some 657 01:04:18,200 --> 01:04:20,200 botanic gardens around Australia. 658 01:04:20,280 --> 01:04:24,760 So, I came in 1980 and well I'm still here after 42 years. 659 01:04:27,240 --> 01:04:30,360 After about a year, I got really interested in the nature of the island. 660 01:04:30,440 --> 01:04:32,600 And of course while I'm out in the forest 661 01:04:32,680 --> 01:04:36,760 I’m looking at everything there and there would be these fungi. 662 01:04:36,840 --> 01:04:40,080 And the two that stand out here that are quite bright 663 01:04:40,160 --> 01:04:43,960 and you can't miss them are the pink one we have, 664 01:04:44,040 --> 01:04:46,920 and also this blue one. 665 01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:47,880 Hang on. 666 01:04:47,960 --> 01:04:50,160 Did Ian just say two mushrooms? 667 01:04:50,880 --> 01:04:53,400 A pink one and the blue. 668 01:04:53,480 --> 01:04:55,840 The two that stand out here that are quite bright 669 01:04:55,920 --> 01:04:57,720 and you can't miss them, 670 01:04:57,800 --> 01:05:01,720 are the pink one we have, and also this blue one. 671 01:05:04,680 --> 01:05:09,040 He did say there was a pink mushroom and he offers to show it to us. 672 01:05:09,120 --> 01:05:11,320 Now, here's this pink one I saw the other day 673 01:05:11,760 --> 01:05:14,400 just under this bit of palm frond here. 674 01:05:15,520 --> 01:05:17,680 They’re some really nice specimens. 675 01:05:17,760 --> 01:05:19,800 It's really, really bright, isn’t it? 676 01:05:19,880 --> 01:05:21,480 They’re beautiful. 677 01:05:21,560 --> 01:05:24,480 Other than the striking neon pink colour, 678 01:05:24,560 --> 01:05:27,920 this mushroom looks identical to the blue one. 679 01:05:28,000 --> 01:05:29,920 Great specimens. Yeah. They’re beautiful aren’t they? 680 01:05:30,000 --> 01:05:33,680 The pink one is very common in this lowland forest, 681 01:05:33,760 --> 01:05:36,640 and I tend to think it likes the sandy soil. 682 01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:40,720 And you tend to find the pink one growing on dead palm fronds or 683 01:05:40,800 --> 01:05:44,080 dead banyan and other timber that's been on the ground for a while. 684 01:05:44,880 --> 01:05:48,840 And yeah, after some rain, it just pops up everywhere. 685 01:05:48,920 --> 01:05:50,720 Beautiful little things. 686 01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:54,840 And it has only ever been recorded on Lord Howe Island. 687 01:05:55,680 --> 01:05:59,320 We seem to have stumbled upon a mushroom that is even more rare, 688 01:05:59,400 --> 01:06:02,520 and we think a very close relative to Frosty Blue. 689 01:06:03,880 --> 01:06:06,520 With the permission of the Lord Howe Island Board, 690 01:06:06,600 --> 01:06:09,080 we photograph and collect specimens 691 01:06:09,160 --> 01:06:14,680 to send to Dr. Teresa Lebel in Adelaide for her to compare the DNA. 692 01:06:20,040 --> 01:06:22,600 Hide self-view. 693 01:06:23,920 --> 01:06:27,000 Okay, I've gotten some results back 694 01:06:27,080 --> 01:06:30,240 and a nice little twist to the story yet again. 695 01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:32,880 And what is that? 696 01:06:32,960 --> 01:06:37,320 The DNA is actually saying it's exactly the same species. 697 01:06:37,400 --> 01:06:40,440 So the colour might be just incidental. 698 01:06:40,520 --> 01:06:44,800 Yeah, the pink colour or the blue colour is a very, 699 01:06:44,880 --> 01:06:49,640 very small change in the DNA sequence for it to change colour. 700 01:06:51,320 --> 01:06:53,520 So the Lord Howe Island pink mushroom 701 01:06:53,600 --> 01:06:57,280 is also a Coprinopsis pulchricaerulea, 702 01:06:57,360 --> 01:06:59,240 variety pink. 703 01:07:00,880 --> 01:07:02,800 Why the colour change? 704 01:07:02,880 --> 01:07:05,080 Well, it could be the soil type 705 01:07:05,160 --> 01:07:08,400 or it could be to attract different animals to spread the spores. 706 01:07:09,120 --> 01:07:11,440 But at this stage, we're just guessing. 707 01:07:11,520 --> 01:07:14,160 We have such a low, or little understanding 708 01:07:14,240 --> 01:07:16,360 of what so many of these fungi are doing 709 01:07:16,440 --> 01:07:20,600 in the environment between the plants, the insects, the fungi. 710 01:07:21,120 --> 01:07:24,520 So much more to understand and so many more things 711 01:07:24,600 --> 01:07:28,200 to investigate and so few mycologists to do it. 712 01:07:28,280 --> 01:07:30,360 So we really, really need the help, 713 01:07:30,440 --> 01:07:34,240 particularly of the citizen scientists and the people in their local patch 714 01:07:34,320 --> 01:07:38,520 going out and observing and and finding some of these unique things. 715 01:08:31,760 --> 01:08:34,880 People often ask us why we are so obsessed 716 01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:37,359 with documenting the world of fungi. 717 01:08:37,439 --> 01:08:39,520 Oh wow. That came up quickly. 718 01:08:39,600 --> 01:08:41,920 What's not to love? 719 01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:44,479 The thrill that comes with a beautiful find. 720 01:08:47,200 --> 01:08:49,240 Or, observing the unexpected. 721 01:09:08,760 --> 01:09:13,120 Losing ourselves for hours in the minutiae of life, 722 01:09:13,200 --> 01:09:15,279 it’s good for the soul. 723 01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:22,399 But I think our biggest motivator is that it gives us hope. 724 01:09:22,479 --> 01:09:27,240 We've realised these exquisite, delicate mushrooms are a window 725 01:09:27,319 --> 01:09:32,439 into a neglected and essential piece in the vast jigsaw of life. 726 01:09:35,640 --> 01:09:39,760 We are in awe of these organisms that make plants resilient, 727 01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:43,000 sequester carbon, provide food for animals, 728 01:09:43,080 --> 01:09:47,399 break down rocks, create soil, even make rain. 729 01:10:05,480 --> 01:10:08,000 Wow. What an amazing display of Hypholoma. 730 01:10:09,080 --> 01:10:10,960 I've got to get a photograph of them. 731 01:10:22,640 --> 01:10:27,640 In discovering where they fit in the jigsaw, we learn that three huge 732 01:10:27,720 --> 01:10:32,000 kingdoms of life plants, animals and fungi 733 01:10:32,080 --> 01:10:33,880 are interconnected. 734 01:10:36,200 --> 01:10:39,360 And often it's the fungi that holds it all together. 735 01:11:01,760 --> 01:11:05,520 We humans are just one organism in this epic story, 736 01:11:05,600 --> 01:11:10,080 and yet we have the means and the power to destroy it all. 737 01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:13,640 And at the moment we're doing a pretty good job of that. 738 01:11:43,640 --> 01:11:46,240 The places we take you as we follow the rain 739 01:11:46,320 --> 01:11:49,520 are just tiny remnants of wilderness. 740 01:11:51,360 --> 01:11:54,320 Every year more and more of these 741 01:11:54,400 --> 01:11:57,520 living museums are bulldozed and torn apart. 742 01:11:58,520 --> 01:12:01,120 Yet we cannot survive on this planet without them. 743 01:12:17,680 --> 01:12:21,960 Just imagine if we can conserve the biodiversity of fungi, 744 01:12:22,040 --> 01:12:26,080 we may be able to conserve all of this, the biodiversity 745 01:12:26,160 --> 01:12:30,960 that is critical to life as we know it and to our own survival.