Today we looked at mushrooms and puffballs (thanks to Rosalie, friend of the lab, for contributing samples!). We examined them with the naked eye, with a magnifying glass, and looked at spores and some gills from a mushroom under the microscope (Exp. 4.1). We also observed yeast fermentation and looked at samples under the microscope immediately and then again >30 minutes later (Exp. 4.2).The two microscope pictures are the yeast sample after 30 minutes, one is unstained and one is stained with methylene blue. Notice the chains forming – that is the yeast budding! With all the various samples and sketching and slide making, we had a busy lab today! We did not get to make the biological key, so that is back to being an “on your own” exercise. I sent home the worksheet I made to help them distinguish between the different phyla of fungi (the differences between the phyla can largely be determined by looking for the spores). I encouraged them to finish it and bring it back next week to see if they were able to identify the phyla by the spore.
Make sure to prepare your mold for next week!
