Amoeba colonies mimic road maps
Oct. 5th, 2011 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
halifaxearthtechhttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/science/04slime.html?pagewanted=all
When food was placed in Madrid and Barcelona on a map of Spain, slime moulds echoed the resource paths of the Spanish highway system almost perfectly. They also most likely played a vital role in creating Earth's first soils, before plants, animals or even fungi crawled ashore one billion years ago. They still are vital to soils today, bridging the food web between bacteria and macrofauna.
I've seen two in my life, in situations where there tended to be an overabundance of decaying nutrient (in a compost pile and on a strawbale that was under a birdfeeder). Certainly very weird, colourful and gross looking!
When food was placed in Madrid and Barcelona on a map of Spain, slime moulds echoed the resource paths of the Spanish highway system almost perfectly. They also most likely played a vital role in creating Earth's first soils, before plants, animals or even fungi crawled ashore one billion years ago. They still are vital to soils today, bridging the food web between bacteria and macrofauna.
I've seen two in my life, in situations where there tended to be an overabundance of decaying nutrient (in a compost pile and on a strawbale that was under a birdfeeder). Certainly very weird, colourful and gross looking!
