- Trails are open 24/7 at no charge. Enjoy a Winnie-the-Pooh themed TRAIL TALES Storybook Walk.
What’s Happening: Signs of Fall
Although much of September felt almost summery, we are now seeing signs of fall as October arrives. This week our programming will focus on the change of season. One of the first signs is that we will host the Door Peninsula Mushroom Club’s Fall Fungi Fest on Saturday, October 4 from 9:00 am–2:00 pm, immediately followed by our weekly Science Saturday Family program, “Signs of Fall.”
Our afterschool program, Environmental Exploration, on Tuesday we will visit wetlands in fall (which this year are not very wet—but wetlands). And the topic for this week’s Junior Nature Club is “Colors,” so we will be looking at autumn leaves.
One of the children attending Junior Nature Club asked an interesting question: “In fall, why do things get dead so much?”
We find the answer in David Arora’s classic book Mushrooms Demystified:
“One of the more obvious laws of nature is that existing life must die if new life is to flourish… if there were no vehicle for the disposal of dead matter, there soon would be no need for one—we would all be buried under a blanket of inert matter.
‘Fungi, along with bacteria, are precisely that vehicle. They are nature’s recyclers, the soil’s replenishers. Fungi and bacteria reduce complex organic compounds into simpler building blocks, enabling plants to re-use them. Thus, in a very profound way, fungi are life givers as well as destroyers.”
That recycling role makes fungi a perfect focus for our fall explorations” So during our various activities this week, we will observe the fruiting bodies of fungi—the mushrooms
Admittedly, some parasitic fungi feed on living organisms, but most fungi live on dead and decaying matter, or form mutually beneficial relationships with plants. These are the fungi that make mushrooms. But don’t assume that all mushrooms look like chubby umbrellas.
Mushrooms develop in a dazzling array of sizes, shapes, and spore dispersal methods. I was taught that “mushrooms are to fungi what apples are to an apple tree,” but that comparison is a stretch. Fungi are not plants. Spores are nothing like seeds. But mushrooms do form so that fungi can release tens of thousands of spores in order to reproduce.
Autumn mushrooms are indeed a sign of fall—but not a dependable one. Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals, and they don’t respond to hours of daylight or human calendars. There is, however, some evidence that they follow internal rhythms that regulate when they appear.
Often, they emerge after rain and a sudden drop in temperature. But humid air and a damp surface—a rotting log, decaying leaf litter, moist soil—can also trigger fruiting. Or not. Sometimes a fungus is simply worn out, lacks dead material, or …well, who knows?
Fungi do. They—without brains— “know” exactly when spores are most likely to germinate.
Other signs of fall, such as autumn colors (dependent on early fall sunshine), leaf drop, and bird migration, we can count on. And maybe we will also see these things—and a whole bunch of truly bizarre-shaped mushrooms—as we get in touch with nature in the fall.
– by Coggin Heeringa, Interpretive Naturalist
For more information, please check out our Crossroads calendar or stop by the Collins Learning Center and pick up a printed calendar. Our trails are open all day every day, free of charge, thanks to donors like you!
Crossroads at Big Creek Learning Center and Nature Preserve is located at 2041 Michigan Street, Sturgeon Bay. Crossroads is a 501(c)(3) organization committed to inspiring stewardship of the environment through education, research, and outdoor experiences. We welcome your support.
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