Mutual Enhancement – The Ecozoic Times https://ecozoictimes.com News & resources for the emerging Ecozoic era :: reinventing human-Earth relations in this new geologic era Mon, 25 Jul 2011 01:55:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://ecozoictimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-13-at-23-07-41-Customize-The-E-cozoic-Times-News-resources-for-the-emerging-Ecozoic-era-reinventing-human-Earth-relations-in-this-new-geologic-era.png Mutual Enhancement – The Ecozoic Times https://ecozoictimes.com 32 32 A Mutual Relationship Example: Mushroom and Tree https://ecozoictimes.com/1657/ Mon, 25 Jul 2011 01:40:25 +0000 https://ecozoictimes.arthasoaps.com/?p=1657 Continue reading →]]> How can humans become to Earth like these mushrooms to this tree?

From Earth Science Picture of the Day at epod.usra.edu/blog/2011/07/mycorrhizal-fungi.html for July 24, 2011.

(EPOD is a service of NASA’s Earth Science Division and the EOS Project Science Office (at Goddard Space Flight Center) and the Universities Space Research Association.)

Photographer: Phil Lachman
Summary Author: Phil Lachman

The photo above shows a lovely group of mushrooms nestled against the trunk of a eucalyptus tree. The association between the fungi and the tree however is no accident. This is a mutualistic relationship, where the two species assist each other, and in fact probably would be poorer without each other. Mutualism is any relationship between two species of organisms that benefits both species. Up to a quarter of the mushrooms you see while walking through the woods actually make their living through a mutualistic relationship with the trees in the forest. Remember of course that the mushroom is just the reproductive structure of a far more extensive organism consisting of a highly intertwined mass of fine white threads called a mycelium.

The word mycorrhiza is derived from the Classical Greek words for “mushroom” and “root.” In a mycorrhizal association, the fungal hyphae of an underground mycelium are in contact with plant roots but without the fungus parasitizing the plant. While it’s clear that the majority of plants form mycorrhizas, the exact percentage is uncertain, but it’s likely to lie somewhere between 80 and 90 percent. When the fungus’ mycelium envelopes the roots of the tree the effect is to greatly increase the soil area covered by the tree’s root system. This essentially extends the plant’s reach to water and nutrients, allowing it to utilize more of the soil’s resources. This mutualistic association provides the fungus with a relatively constant and direct access to carbohydrates, such as glucose and sucrose, supplied by the plant. In return the plant gains the benefits of the mycelium’s higher absorptive capacity for water and mineral nutrients (due to comparatively large surface area of mycelium-to-root ratio), thus improving the plant’s mineral absorption capabilities. Photo taken on May 7, 2011.

]]> Is this an example of “mutually enhancing” actions and behaviour? https://ecozoictimes.com/is-this-an-example-of-mutually-enhancing-actions-and-behaviour/ Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:40:36 +0000 https://ecozoictimes.arthasoaps.com/?p=1538 Continue reading →]]> I have strongly mixed feelings about this story (below). I suppose ultimately this is an example of putting the shattered pieces of the world back together, of tikkun olam. Of humans responding to the wounds of the world. Of making a place viable and suitable again for life in a very short time span. And yes, we cannot remake history. What happened, happened (the strip mining). I would never want this story, the experience of the land and the humans in this place, to be an excuse for strip mining. It is an example of what not to do – have an unconscious or conscious "energy policy", locally or nationally or globally – that requires strip mining in the first place. Let's try for something better. And, one must wonder what might have been accomplished by all the human energy that instead was focused on this project for so many years. An early cure for cancer? More nuanced forestry policy? I don't know! But then there is the other side of the human energy issue – no doubt this was one of the best things that happened for some of the folks who worked on the project. Hummm….How shall we understand this all?

Lester R. Davis State Forest

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:01 AM PST

LesterDavisStPark 
Photographer: Tommy Hornbeck
Summary Author: Tommy Hornbeck

"And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County down by the Green River where Paradise lay. Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away." – John Prine, 1971

When coal and other minerals are strip mined, the land is literally turned upside down, depositing nearly sterile debris (spoils) many feet deep and destroying the previously healthy top soil. What little is left of the land is then abandoned — or at least this was the case until relatively recently. Nature, however is remarkably resilient, and over time, and with a little help, can eventually recover from many forms of abuse.

In 1951, Lester Davis purchased 85 acres (34.4 hectares) of land in southwestern Missouri, for $42.50, that had been strip mined around 1926, and which 25 years later was still nothing but spoils. He was determined to find some way to return the land to its natural beauty. Between 1951 and 1967, Davis with a few helpers, planted 101,269 trees and shrubs and sowed thousands of seeds over his land. With a total investment of less than $9,600, he planted nearly 356 different species of plants. Since the land was so rough it was all done by hand. In 1968, Mr. Davis donated the acreage to the Missouri Department of Conservation. This land is now known as the Lester R. Davis State Forest. Today, as pictured above, several ponds provide a background for towering stands of mature trees, which are a magnet for both the wildlife that now abounds and for nature lovers who can walk the miles of trails throughout the park. Mr. Davis showed how it could be done. In the U.S., laws in most states and jurisdictions now require mining companies to restore the mined-over land to near its original state.

Photo details: Center photo taken on March 19, 2010: Nikon D80 camera; ½ second exposure; f22; ISO 100; 40mm  lens. Left and right photos taken on November 3, 2010: Nikon D80 camera; 1/10 second exposure; f16; ISO 100; 16mm lens.

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