![]() Slime molds are a magnificent reminder of those untold riches, waiting to be found. ![]() Scientists have known about this repulsive defence for decades, but Vincent. “Much of Earth’s biodiversity goes unnoticed, unrecorded, unstudied,” she says. The hagfish releases a quick-setting slime that clogs up the predator’s gills, causing it to gag, choke and flee. Many species go by the common name of slime mold, but the ones scientists know best belong to the genus Dictyostelium. Soil is the largest carbon sink after the ocean and holds more carbon than all. Scoop up some dirt, and you’ll probably wind up with some slime mold. Why such brilliant colors? Why so many different shapes? How many species not yet discovered? “It’s painful how much we don’t know,” says one of Trest’s university colleagues, mycologist Anne Pringle. Soil filters the water we drink, grows the food we eat, and captures the carbon dioxide that causes climate change. How slimes and squishies soothe children in times of stress. “There is a great chunk of hidden diversity in many of our ecosystems,” Dagamac says.ĭespite scientists’ research, many mysteries remain about slime molds. Photograph by StockRocket / Getty Images. ![]() The seeming lack of diversity in the tropics comes from the warm, wet conditions slime molds thrive there so they’re seldom in their showy reproductive phase, making new species tough to find. More have been identified in temperate zones compared to tropical, says ecologist Nikki Heherson Dagamac of the Philippines’ University of Santo Tomas. The former is where this slime mold, Enerthenema papillatum, was photographed. All the species in this gallery are found in just two counties of southern England: Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |