Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: fungal fiends

#068: Frosty Pod Rot Disease of Cacao Trees 1

Fungus Fact

#068: Frosty Pod Rot Disease of Cacao Trees

Frosty Pod Rot, caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri, is one of the most significant pathogens of cacao trees (Theobroma cacao). The disease has been around a long time: it was first recognized in Ecuador in 1917 and first described in 1933.  roreri likely evolved in Columbia, where the greatest diversity of the species is located and where cultivated cacao trees grow near closely related trees.  Up until the 1950’s, Frosty Pod Rot was limited to northwestern South America.  Since then, it has spread throughout Central America and into Peru and Venezuela.  In these areas, Frosty Pod Rot is the most destructive cacao disease, resulting in the loss of about 30-40% of total production.  The disease has not yet made it to Asia or Africa, where most of the world’s chocolate is produced, but it may just be a matter of time.

#061: Ergot of Rye, Claviceps purpurea 2

Fungus Fact

#061: Ergot of Rye, Claviceps purpurea

Imagine for a moment that it is the late 17th century and you live in rural America.  Your day starts off like any other day: you wake up, have breakfast, and begin working on your farm.  However, before too long your daughter starts behaving oddly.  At first she just seems agitated, but her symptoms quickly escalate.  She convulses, hides under the table, yells unintelligibly, and complains of a prickly sensation in her arms and legs.  Terrified, you call for the town doctor.  The doctor has never seen a disease like this before and cannot find anything physically wrong with your daughter.  After a while, he comes up with the only possible cause: witchcraft.  Just then, one of your neighbors bursts in, looking for the doctor.  His daughter has been exhibiting the same symptoms!  You look at his frightened face and realize what you have to do: in order to protect...

#049: Coffee Rust [Archived] 1

Archived

#049: Coffee Rust [Archived]

Note: This is an archived post. You can find the current version of this post here. Coffee Rust (la roya in Spanish) is a disease of coffee plants that is caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix. If you enjoy a fine cup of coffee, then this is one fungus you should be very interested in.  The Coffee Rust is currently ravaging coffee trees in Central America, where 60% to 75% of the region’s crops are infected with the pathogen.  The result of this has been a 15% drop in Central America’s coffee output and a corresponding loss of more than 100,000 jobs over the last two years.  The high-end Arabica trees are particularly susceptible to the disease.  America’s major coffee producers have been able to find enough coffee to meet demand without a noticeable impact on price*, but smaller, specialty brewers are having a harder time.  And we haven’t seen...

#026: Pseudogymnoascus destructans 5

Fungus Fact

#026: Pseudogymnoascus destructans

The fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans is the causal agent of White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) of bats. WNS is most destructive to bats during the winter.  Its primary effect on bats is to change their behavior during winter.  Bats with WNS are observed to wake up frequently, fly around during the day, and cluster near the entrances to their hibernacula during the time that they should be hibernating.  This extra activity kills bats in two ways.  For one, they could either freeze to death while flying around outside.  Alternatively, the extra activity could deplete their fat reserves and the bats could starve to death.