MYXOMYCETES XIII Emergence to Spore Release.

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 9:06 am

MYXOMYCETES XIII Emergence to Spore Release.

Upper image: Emergence
Scale of frame, 3.5mm horizontal
Canon 10D
B&H .7 inch f.l. lens @ f/4 on extension tubes
Series of 62 images at .001 inch increments
Diffused fiber optic illumination
Combine ZM, Photoshop
Collected 6/13/07

Middle image: Spore and capillitium formation
Scale of frame, 3mm horizontal
Canon 10D
Canon 20mm f.l. lens @ f/5.6 on extension tubes
Series of 35 images at .001 inch increments
Diffused fiber optic illumination
Combine ZM, Photoshop
Collected 6/13/07

Lower image: Spore release
Scale of frame, 3.5mm horizontal
Canon 10D
B&H .7 inch f.l. lens @ f/4 on extension tubes
Series of 46 images at .001 inch increments
Diffused fiber optic illumination
Combine ZM, Photoshop
Collected 6/13/07

Once the plasmodium has finished the process of creating the fruiting body a big change takes place. The fruiting body looses its brilliant color, flexibility and transparent features. The stalk becomes fibrous and the peridium begins to harden. Changes are occurring in the spherical peridium turning goo into spores and the strands of capillitium that will retain them. In time the peridium will be exposed to dryer conditions, rupture and release its spores.

My good fortune at capturing this species of myxomycete at the start of sporulation continued as I was able to follow the progress of the same fruiting bodies. Although almost foiled in their progress by a nearby fungal attack (the white strands seen in the second image) they matured and are beginning to break open.

Although shot at a slightly different angles and with different lenses, the myxomycetes in all three images, as I stated, are the same. The change between the first and second image took place in less than 24 hours but can take longer depending on conditions only the myxo judges. The middle image is a halfway point and shows the condition in which most myxo hunters will find this species, simply because it stays this way for a longer period of time. Dark and blending into the natural back ground it is hard to see. Finally in the lower image the drying of the myxo is complete and it is cracking open due to self imposed internal pressures.

Walt

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:55 am

What a marvelous sequence!

The images are technically excellent and well composed -- pleasures to look at. Following exactly the same subjects, over a period of days, gives me a great feel for how these things evolve. And to do that with these high resolution deep stacks, well now, that just might be another first. Very well done, Walt!

One suggestion... Can you list the timestamps when the photos were taken, versus (or in addition to) when the specimen was collected?

And a question... I notice that the latest release of CombineZM (June 16, 2007) has some different macros, in particular a new "Do Weighted Average" rendering technique that I think is similar to what Helicon Focus does. It may work better with some subjects, particularly if there is detail at multiple depths in small areas of the field. Were these images generated with the older (and still available) "Do Stack" macro, or the new "Do Weighted Average" one?

--Rik

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:25 pm

Now this is pure science and excellent photography. A wonderful sequence of photos Walter. I have two questions....were these left in their natural location & state or did you bring the specimen home and if you did bring them home, what effect do you think you had on the timeline of this whole process?

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:14 pm

Fungi will indeed kill them but I imagine the attack was too late. Most excellent series of images Walt.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:39 am

Walt and Ken,

I'm not sure how closely this fits your interests, but I ran into it while pursuing some other links.

Strassmann and Queller Group Social Amoebae Research wrote: (At http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~evolve/dicty.html) The social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, has long been a model system for studying development and cell biology. It also has enormous but unrealized potential as a model system for social evolution. This is because the multicellular stage of this organism forms in a different manner from the usual case, in which the multicellular organism descends clonally from a single cell. In D. discoideum, a multicellular fruiting body is achieved by the aggregation of numerous separate amoebae. It has been widely recognized that if these cells come from different clones, conflicts may ensue over which cells would become the sterile stalk, and which the fertile spores. Yet almost no empirical work has been directed towards this issue. Work in the Strassmann/Queller lab has recently established that different clones will normally mix to form chimeric fruiting bodies, and also that one of the two mixed clones often cheats by contributing less to stalks than to spores.

Lots of other links popped up when I queried on Dictyostelium etc., but most of them were beyond my comprehension.

I pass along this reference just in case you're interested.

--Rik

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:49 am

A well thought through and superbly executed project Walt.

IMO photographic work as unique and important as this deserves publication in a manner that would both preserve it for posterity and make it readily available to interested scientific (and academic) community.

Bruce

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:25 am

If you are going to continue at great length in the study of myxos, Prof. Stephenson at the Univ. of Ark. would more than likely be interested in these images. You do, IMO, have something of scientific value toward the study of them. I cannot recall ever having seen any so detailed a photographic work on them. There is a lady who has posted numerous images of them on Flickr but not near as good a work as this. Quite an inspiration to all of us who are interested in these unusual forms of life Walt.

I have often thought of studying dictyostelids but they are much smaller than the myxomycota when it comes to the pseudoplasmodium or the aggrigation of the amoebae. A very good high resolution scope of both stereo and transmitted light would be a requirement for the study of them I would think. My Axiostar would suffice but my Meiji I am not so sure of, maybe to a limited point.

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 4:31 pm

Thank you so very much for your appreciation and interest. I would work on this subject even if nobody cared, but having the support through this forum keeps me on my toes to produce images of photographic merit and improving quality.

I look forward to trying some new Combine ZM macros as, quite frankly, what I am using now cannot handle fuzzy objects. These were all done in Do Stack. The version (June 25, 2006) I am using has a Do Average & Filter but all I get is a black image. Hopefully Do Weighted average will do better.

These subjects were brought home. Photographic work must begin immediately to catch them in the state of the top image. The myxoamoebic cells seem to advance through the substrate in one direction and you can soon tell which side of the subject matrix is old and which is fresh. I store fresh specimens in a humid environment, checking frequently (every 12 hours) for fugal attack. They will stay for a good period of days in the state of the second image unless allowed to dry out, but this is only my limited personal research.

Thanks Rik for the Dictoyostelium link. I have begun planning for such work as they show in the life cycle with the myxos but as Ken says it requires some serious magnification and a lot of luck and time.

Walt

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 12:52 pm

Well Walt you out done yourself on this one.

All the girls in the neighborhood are probably beating down your doors to get at ya or at least I would think they would be. Congratulations!

Good thing I don't win these things. All I would probably get would be a female federal officer at the door, with a warrant of somekind...which reminds me Walt...I gotta go. See ya later and again congrats...