On Tuesday I finally got around to looking at the roots of the wheat plants I had innoculated with a fungus isolated from Cornus suecica. None of the plants I had innoculated with commercial mycorrhizae had a sign of infection, so I wasn't in a hurry to be disappointed. I was very pleased to see a dark septate hyphae infecting the roots. The pattern of infection was similar to what I've seen in all of the muskeg plants I've looked at so far.
The next step is to attempt to identify the fungus. Extracted DNA or at least went through the process of extracting DNA on Thursday. Extracted from both the Cornus isolate and another from Kalmia which I haven't used for innoculum as yet. It was quite entertaining trying to get the hyphae out of the culture tubes and into the very tiny extraction tubes. Try stuffing spiderwebs into something half the size of a thimble, all the while making sure that everything stays nice and clean. Next time I'll grow the fungus in a petri plate, that would at least be easier to scrape. Next step is choosing the primers.
Wednesday went to Indian River and out to Starrigaven with Scott and a group from University of Portland. It was sunny and cool with fresh snow. Didn't have much time at either place, but it was a nice day to be out. They heard a winter wren or two and saw a Sapsucker and probably heard more about fungi and trees than they ever wanted. I suspect I start to sound a bit loopy when I start talking about how all the growing things in the forest are interconnected in life and death. Maybe that's why mycologists are often thought of as being a bit odd. The group as a whole was most interested in social issues around native land claims and social justice issues, but seemed to enjoy seeing the forest. It was fun watching Oregonians drive in the snow out at Starrigavan, I guess I've come along way (in confidence, not necessarily competence) in terms of snow driving since I moved here.
Longlining opened last Saturday and the channel is full of gulls. Took a few breaks from writing on Friday to look at the multitude. It was intermittantly sunny and cold with the northwest wind. On one of the trips to the ramp I counted the birds. It is alot easier to count that many gulls with a class, or maybe it was just easier to supervise the counting. I saw Herring, Thayers, Mew, Glaucous-winged and one Western Gull. There were also a number of eagles, and a few Common mergansers, Scaup and Barrow's Goldeneyes. On the second trip out, there was more of everything and a few Sea lions. There was one spot that looked like spawning Herring were around. The birds and Sea lions were certainly focusing on that area.
Saturday was sunny again so I walked through the park on my way back from dance class. It was low tide so I spent most of my time on the beach looking at another multitude of gulls. There were a few kittiwakes in the mix, one of which had very bright orange-red legs. I didn't get a good enough look at it to say anything terribly definitive about it except that it was most likely a kittiwake. Did see a Robin in the park as well.
Found a flock of Redpolls in the alders in the commons. Took me a bit to find them after I heard their chatter. They were foraging on the ground instead of the tree tops, perhaps all of the alder seeds have fallen by this point.
The elderberry buds are swollen and purple, the salmonberry buds are swollen, but no pink on the island. One branch of Early blueberry was in bloom on the east side of the house. It looked a little the worse for the cold, kind of dry and bit yellow. Today I found another shrub with healthier looking flowers toward the burn pile.
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