this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
1374 points (98.9% liked)

Science Memes

14877 readers
1869 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.

Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1374
On trees... (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
182 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

We use a specific type of Lycopodium as a control group to calculate pollen counts and various other metrics in palaeoecology. It's pollen is super distinct.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's super neat. Is that little triangular bit at the top a germ pore or something else? It's funny how you get one clade that takes what you'd think would be a really optimizable form like a spore or a pollen grain and takes a left turn with it. In fungi, Entolomas are really identifiable because their spores are pink and cube shaped.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Y like structure comes from their formation in a sort of honeycomb cluster of 4. This structure makes them easy to break off from the host and also provides a weak point for germination. :) I wish I could differentiate fungal spores, I see a lot of them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Oof, I do not envy anyone trying to identify fungi through the fossil record. Color and fruiting body structure tend to play pretty big roles in ID because the spores themselves tend to be small and fragile, so except for a few genera that are known for highly ornamented spores it can be pretty challenging.