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Re: Piptoporus & Fomes on birch - distribution

Subject: Re: Piptoporus & Fomes on birch - distribution
From: andrewpapworth
Date: Dec 30 2006 19:16:51 
Dear Pete
I know this area very well having lived within the area a long time and
visit these woods regularly during the summer. I too, have noticed the
amount of Fomes on the birch in this woodland and visit other reserves in
the locality that contain good amounts of birch but nowhere near as much
fomes. The most obvious difference that I can place between this and other
local woods is that this one is on fen peat that will be quite acidic
whereas most other local woodland occupies clay land that is likely to be
more alkaline. The adage that fomes is a north country fungi could be
something to do with pH as there is far more acid soil and lime leaching
high rainfall in the north and alkaline soils and low rainfall/ low leaching
in the south.
I am sure there will be far more learned people than I with an opinion of
this and these would be interesting. 

Happy New Year

Andrew
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Hughes" <pete@xxxxxxxxxxx.wanadoo.co.uk> 
To: "UK Tree Care" <uktc@xxxxxx.tree-care.info>
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 7:28 PM
Subject: Piptoporus & Fomes on birch - distribution



Hello all,
/
/As an escape from Christmas, I took the dogs for a walk on Boxing Day to
Holme Fen, a National Nature Reserve just south of Peterborough. The
vegetation here is in the early stages of ecological succession (having
been drained in the 1800s) with the majority of the trees being Birch,
slowly being succeeded by Oak. The soil is very peaty and subsequently
there is a lot of wind throw - the root plates of thrown trees are very
shallow (often no more than 20-30cm), most likely to be as a result of the
high water-table and the impervious blue clay not far below the surface.
What I find most interesting is that there are also substantial numbers of
brackets of Piptoporus betulinus and Fomes fometarius to be found on
standing and fallen birch trees in various states of decay. I would guess
that there are roughly equal numbers of brackets of both species, which
got me thinking about the distribution of the 2 species in the UK - the
literature generally agrees that Fomes is more common in the north, while
Piptoporus predominates in the south.
I'm curious to know your experiences of these species. Does one or other
specie appear exclusively in the north/south, or do both occur but in
varying proportions? What would be the reason - does one occupy an
ecological niche over the other that results in it's predominance? I also
wonder why both appear in equal numbers at Holme Fen - perhaps it's due to
the 'cornucopia' of a suitable food source (i.e., thousands of Betula).
If you're ever in the area, I'd recommend a visit to Holme Fen. Two points
of interest are that (1) it is the lowest place in Britain, being 2m below
sea level, and (2) the Holme Fen Posts, 2 cast iron posts which were both
sunk vertically into the peat in the 1800s, so the tops were flush with
adjacent ground. One of them (buried in 1852) is reputed to have come from
Crystal Palace. As a result of the drainage of the Fens, the peat has
decomposed aerobically and the ground level has dropped such that the tops
of both posts are now about 4m above ground level - hence the reason why
the underlying clay is now nearer to the surface. 

Be interested to hear your thoughts.

Cheers

Pete




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