Global Warming Promotes Fungus Growth

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Global Warming Promotes Fungus Growth

Associated Content - Denver,CO,

By Zielinski

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/209793/global_warming_promot

es_fungus_growth.html

Some argue that global warming is a result of human activities which

lead to elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Others

claim that the cause is nothing more the planet's natural

temperature cycles. Regardless of where one stands on this debate,

however, evidence continues to mount which points to the fact that

global climate change is a very real phenomenon, and one with

widespread and significant results.

A recent study, published in the journal Science, strongly suggests

that rising temperatures have a significant impact on the growth and

lifecycles of a wide variety of fungi. The article was written by

Alan Gange, a professor of ecology at the University of London.

Gange used records kept by his father, , in order to analyze

changes the growth of mushrooms and toadstools over a 50-year

period. " My father was a stonemason, and his hobby was mycology....

For 50 years of his life, he went out and recorded the appearance of

mushrooms and toadstools around Salisbury....When he retired, he

bought himself a computer, taught himself Excel, and typed in all

these 52,000 records. "

This data shows that many species of fungi are beginning to fruit-

the process by which fungi reproduce-earlier in the year, and

continuing to fruit later. Even more significantly, however, some

fungi are reproducing twice a year, instead of once. It is " unheard

of for an organism to start reproducing twice a year instead of

once, " stated Alan Gange, " The amount of mushrooms produced would be

about doubled over the course of a year " .

This phenomenon might seem rather insignificant and harmless to

most; however, the effect of climate change on fungi has the

potential to create new threats to human health and life. Around the

turn of the century, scientists noticed something odd happening on

Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Dead dolphins were washing

ashore, their lungs shut down by pneumonia and other organs swollen

with strange tumors. Strange cell growths were showing up with

worrying frequency in pet animals. And, perhaps most worrying of

all, humans were coming down with undiagnosable illnesses, with

symptons including severe headaches and fatigue.

Scientists eventually managed to uncover a common cause for these

strange occurrences: a microscopic fungus, a member of the yeast

family, called Cryptococcus gattii. This fungus is normally found in

the bark of eucalyptus trees in Australia and other tropical

climates. Increasing temperatures in British Columbia, however,

created conditions in which the foreign fungus was able to survive

and proliferate. Additionally, since people and animals there had no

previous contact to the fungus, their bodies were unable to develop

immunity to it. As a result, the fungus is both more infectious and

more deadly in its new home than in Australia.

In the eight years since it established itself on Vancouver Island,

Cryptococcus gattii has infected 163 people and killed 8, in

addition to numerous animals. In recent years, the fungus has begun

to spread to the mainland of British Columbia, as well as to Oregon

and Washington. As global warming continues, it seems likely that

more dangers to human health will come to light. " These are the

types of things we will see with climate change, " Murray Fyfe, chief

epidemiologist for the British Columbia CDC, said. " As the weather

in North America gets warmer, we are more likely to be affected by

these public health threats. "

Sources:

Doug Struck, " Alien Invasion: The Fungus That Came to Canada. " The

Washington Post. URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/04/07/AR2007

040700698.html

Jeanna Bryner, " The World Rots Faster as Global Warming Fuels

Fungi. " LiveScience. URL:

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070405_fungus_fruiting.html

Black, " Climate Change Fruitful for Fungi. " BBC News. URL:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6524013.stm