A very fungal Christmas for me. ;p
When you begin to study mycology, you quickly realize that you need a microscope to work through the keys, which will ask you to check for you to check for things like the shape of the spores. For Christmas, I bought myself a couple of cheap used microscopes from eBay---a dissecting or stereo microscope, useful for examining large things like beetles, seeds, and lichens, and a compound microscope for examining fungal spores.
I got the stereo microscope in yesterday and have used it to look at beetles and lichens. Those lichen keys are easy to work through once you've got the right equipment. I don't know when the other one will come in. It's currently sitting in a post office in Mumbai, according to the tracker.
To examine fungal spores, not any microscope will work. You need one with a x1000 oil immersion lens. This page explains how to use it to look at mushroom spores: https://www.mushroomexpert.com/microscope.html
תצפיות
תמונות/קולות
מתצפת.ת
cosmiccatתיאור
Bug 1 cm long.
Playing with the new stereo/dissecting microscope. Not the best photos, but hopefully identifiable.
תמונות/קולות
מתצפת.ת
cosmiccatתיאור
Blown down from crepe myrtle by the wind.
These lichen keys are fun and easy to go through once you've got a dissecting microscope. ;p
Sparse soralia on lobe margins at center of lichen. (Photo 3).
Medulla and cortex UV-
Medulla k-, cortex k+ yellow (photo 4)
Medulla and cortex c- (photo 5)
Used key. Lichens of North America p. 499.
תגובות
I'm planning to get a dissecting microscope. I don't plan on getting a compound microscope for fungal spores. I just give them to mycologist David Lewis to look at for me. How much did you spend on your dissecting microscope? Do you photograph through one of the eye pieces or does it have a dedicated third place for photography?
I spent $110 on this one: https://amscope.com/collections/stereo-microscope/products/se303r-p
I took the photos through the eye piece with a cell phone.
Nice. I like the halogen light feature.
הוספת תגובה