Jake Dalzell

I saw two Perseid meteors last night (it was unfortunately quite overcast), a sparrowhawk attempting to catch a rabbit, and lots of bats!

Yes, that actually was the case with a smut fungus that systemically infects an Agrostis!

Yes, the infection is systemic so the entire plant is equally affected. When it isn't flowering the oomycete forms very sparse hyphae in the vascular tissue and is asymptomatic.

Peronospora violacea is a common pathogen which is visible at the minute galling the flower heads of Devil's-bit Scabious. You can see in the left picture the elongated corollas extend past the bracts unlike the uninfected plant on the right. Note too the stamens have not developed.
#FungiFriends

Starry Saxifrage and its rust Puccinia saxifragae on a nice flush today in Fermanagh.
#FungiFriends

I took the first soil sample of my PhD today in a grassland managed by @ceanncait.bsky.social
Lots of nice neutral grassland plants and at least 17 pathogen species in my plot – I will be analysing the network of interactions at each site and hopefully learning something about how the networks form

it could also be C. humidiphila, which has longer sclerotia in general
you need to check if it sinks or floats after soaking in water for 4 hours – if it sinks it is C. purpurea s.s.

I think this is Protomyces kriegerianus, a leaf smut on Cat's Ear. This one seems to be very underrecorded – keep an eye out for swollen red spots on this host!
#FungiFriends
#PlantPathogens

"Those willing to toil over genuine questions will necessarily lose out to those that can furnish cheap answers." A timely and powerful must-read for anyone involved in science.

thanks!!!

is that what you take all your photos that you post with? they are basically exactly the look I want

I am looking for #photography advice – I want to take higher-resolution photos of pathogens at this sort of scale (meso-macro; currently I use my phone). Is my best option carrying around a large DSLR and macro lens or is there a smaller option? And would I need to use focus stacking with a DSLR?

These blood-sucking arachnids can’t leap, but it turns out they can fly.

Their secret? Static electricity. #ScienceMagArchives scim.ag/45ebK8B

The fungus in orange living within the developing sporophyte in the perianth

A lush temperate rainforest with trees covered in mosses and ferns

1st Irish record of the newly described bryophilous ascomycete Endoantria benetecta on its host Lejeunea patens from the temperate rainforest at Correl Glen, West Fermanagh

Known only from Scotland & Wales; this marks the first for Ireland - our rainforests support untold diversity

#fungifriends

yes I've seen quite a few this year!

@dmac00.bsky.social took me to this neutral grassland today in South Armagh. We saw a Silver-washed Fritillary!

I found this mite gall today on Lousewort. The red galls have dense hair-like structures which the mites live inside. This one (Aculops pedicularis) has been found twice in Scotland and is known from elsewhere in Europe but this seemingly is the first Irish record.
#galls

An Aspen (Populus tremula) sucker free from herbivore pressure.

Cirsium dissectum (Meadow Thistle) on the shore of Lough Cullin.

After spending some time in East Mayo back in May, a highlight was exploring some of the woodland along the shore of Lough Cullin.

It was very uplifting to wander along this wild shoreline and see Bilberry above knee height and even the most palatable tree species regenerating.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library: a short appreciation article.

New piece by me in @britmycolsoc.org.uk's Field Mycology publication.

▶️ doi.org/10.63482/sa0... #OpenAccess

@biodivlibrary.bsky.social

I've been seeing this powdery mildew on Sycamore recently – Phyllactinia marissalii. Unlike the more common Sawadaea bicornis, it is restricted to the underside and forms these single conidiophores. The upper side of the leaf has yellow patches where there are conidiophores underneath.
#FungiFriends

On a beautiful island on Strangford Lough, I think this is the gall midge Geocrypta rostriformis on Ladies' Bedstraw.
#Cecidomyiidae

I think I was looking at something else beside it before I noticed it, certainly not one you'd spot as you walked along

I was pleased to find this downy mildew on Knotgrass yesterday, Peronospora polygoni. This is the first Irish record. It's one of the more subtle ones.
#FungiFriends #PlantPathology

I think this is a female Dasineura urticae laying into nettles. There were galls of the same species lower down on the plant and it's the most common by far.
#Cecidomyiidae

Petition: Urgently fulfil humanitarian obligations to Gaza Act to ensure deliverer of fuel, food, aid, life saving services etc. We think this shouldn't be dependant/on condition of Israeli facilitation as the Knesset voted against UNWRA access to Gaza. We th...

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

What's this??
Marsilea quadrifolia in Bucks. It looks like a Shamrock, but it's actually an aquatic plant! And a fern! This one had been planted and liked the shallows, producing dense vegetation.

beautiful, they always remind me of snowflakes

OK here's a close up of Erysiphe aquilegiae ranunculi - not an easy subject to photograph! 🙄

+ the common powdery mildew Erysiphe aquilegiae ranunculi bladmineerders.nl/parasites/fu...

images like this are a pillar of biodiversity research, I can't count the number of times there are 0 images online of a taxon I'm interested in when I would've killed for this