I think that the mushrooms grown in cool, dark and moist conditions will grow the best.

Native Species

Canada is home to many edible fungi species, like chanterelles, pine mushrooms and morels. There are native species that are used for medicinal purposes, like “magic mushrooms” and fly agaric. There are also many poisonous and toxic fungi that grow in Canada, including the death cap, deadly galerina and panther mushroom.  Fungi grows best in cool, moist conditions, often appearing in the spring and fall season. Fungi usually grows in groups, like rings or dense clusters. Fungi can grow in a variety of habitats, like forests, wetlands, fields and even our lawns. Because of this, it can be found all over Canada: from the U.S. border all the way to the Arctic Circle and from the West Coast to Atlantic Canada! 

Indigenous Uses of Fungi

Since we've been talking about fungi, let's see how the Indigenous Peoples used it. Fungi had many traditional uses. For example, Puff Balls were used for maternal and medicinal applications, especially for stopping hemorrhages. Perennial Tree Fungi was used for fire starters, pigments, carving mask, and a range of medical uses, like teas. Fungi also played a key role in rituals, stories and beliefs. 

While some Indigenous groups ate fungi, many didn’t because so many species can be poisonous. The fact that they didn’t eat them is shown in some of the names they had for mushrooms. For example: 

• Dene: dleedilé →  squirrel food, 
• Chipewyan: dlie ebandzaghe →  squirrel apple 
• Inuit: tuktaup niqingit →  caribou food

The Role of Fungi in the Ecosystem

Many people associate fungi with mushrooms but the mushroom is only one part. A mushroom is the fruiting body of a fungus. Mushrooms are produced above ground on soil or on the food source of the fungus. The main part of a fungus is the mycelium: a maze of thread-like structures that grow below ground. Mycelia (more than one mycelium) form a connection called mycorrhizae. The role of mycorrhizae is to help plants absorb water and nutrients. Fungi and plants have a symbiotic relationship because the fungi helps the plants get more water and nutrients and the plants help the fungi by providing carbohydrates formed through photosynthesis. 

Warning: Poisonous!

Do not consume a wild mushroom unless you are 100% certain of its identity and that it is safe to eat! 

While there are many types of mushrooms that are safe to eat, some are extremely poisonous.  For example:

Death Caps: Based off of its name you can clearly tell that a Death Cap is a highly toxic mushroom. Many people accidentally consume this mushroom because they look very similar to Caesar's Mushroom, which is an edible mushroom. This mushroom is found on forest floors across Europe. A weird fact about the Death Cap is that it was used for assassinations in the past. 

Destroying Angels: The Destroying Angels are a group of three related species of fungi sharing the same name. This mushroom is highly toxic and can be found across North America and Europe in woodlands, grasslands, meadows and lawns. Eating a single mushroom can be fatal.

Fool’s Conecap: These innocent looking mushrooms are commonly found on lawns in  the Pacific NorthWest. When eaten, they cause symptoms that are often mistaken for food poisoning, so people might not get the medical care they need right away.

How Dangerous are Fungi?  

If you eat a poisonous mushroom, please go to the hospital immediately. The sickness caused by eating poisonous fungi usually comes on quite quickly and can result in kidney, lung and heart failure. Eating even really small amounts of poisonous fungi can result in death.

Eating poisonous mushrooms isn’t the only way that fungi can make people sick. Some types of fungi let out toxins into the air which are harmful to plants, humans and animals. Toxins can be absorbed into your bloodstream through your skin, which can then result in infections and sickness. While turning the human race into zombies isn’t likely, theoretically rapid infection caused by fungi in The Last of Us could happen!       

Fun-gi Facts 

• Some species can glow in the dark.
• Fungi are more similar to humans than to plants.
• Some species can turn ants into zombies.
• The Armillaria ostoyae, also known as the Humongous fungus, is the largest living thing on earth.
• Our feet have more than 200 types of fungi on them.
• Fungi help trees talk with each other.
• Fungi have a key role cleaning the planet.
• There are roughly 200 000 known types of fungi on earth.
• People have been using fungi for over 5000 years.
• Fungi is in a lot of your homes.
• Fungi has been around for roughly 1.3 billion years!

My experiment changed the amount of water, the exposure to sunlight and the temperature to determine the ideal growing conditions for Lion's Mane mushrooms.

Controlled variable: all of the kits were the same brand (Happy Caps) and same species of mushroom: Lion's Mane.

Manipulated variables: amount of water, sunlight and temperature

Condition 1: Room temperature (21 degrees); 10 sprays of water per day; direct sunlight

Condition 2: Cold (15 degrees); 10 sprays of water per day; indirect sunlight

Condition 3: Hot (27 degrees); 10 sprays of water per day; indirect sunlight

Condition 4: Room temperature (21 degrees); 10 sprays of water per day; indirect sunlight

Condition 5: Room temperature (21 degrees); 30 sprays of water per day; indirect sunlight

Condition 6: Room temperature (21 degrees); no water; indirect sunlight

Step 1: Open each Happy Caps mushroom kit and prepare according to the kit instructions. Place the mushroom block on a plate. Remove the tape on the bag to make the top tall. Cut two Xs on the bag and then cover the block with the large plastic bag (humidity tent). 

Step 2: Fill each spray bottle with tap water.

Step 3: Separate the kits into different conditions.

Step 4: Spray the kits twice a day for 14 days with the required amount of water. Observe and record any growth or changes to the mushroom blocks.

Step 5: On day 10 place a paper towel under the mushroom block.

Step 6: On day 14, record final observations, then harvest mushrooms and enjoy!

On Day 1, I set the mushrooms up. The mushroom blocks were brown and moist. I did not see any mushrooms growing on days 2 and 3, but the blocks started to turn white in places. On day 4, I started to see mushrooms growing on the one in cold and hot conditions. On day 6, the mushrooms in cold conditions were growing bigger and I saw mushrooms forming in the hot one and the wet one. By Day 7,  I saw mushrooms on every single block except the dry one. On Day 8, not much was different but the mushrooms growing in hot conditions were brown for some weird reason. On Day 9, I noticed that only the mushroom in the cold condition was growing into the mane that they are supposed to have. The rest were more like balls. On Day 10, since all of the kits except the dry one had mushrooms growing, I had to put a paper towel underneath them. Day 11, nothing really changed with the fungi but it was harder to spray the cold one because it was getting so big. On Day 12, I didn’t notice many changes to how the mushrooms looked, but I noticed that the cold one was falling apart because of how big it was. On Day 13, I saw that the dry block was starting to grow a small mushroom. On the last day, Day 14, I observed that the mushrooms grown in cold, moist conditions were the biggest and were white and fluffy, while the others were more dense and brownish.

The mushrooms grown in each condition are shown below:

. 

From my graph, I can see that the mushrooms grown in condtion 2 (cool, moist, indirect sunlight) grew the best. These mushrooms were almost double in size to the other mushrooms. They are also the only mushrooms that grew the mane. The mushrooms grown with no moisture grew the worst, showing that water is a very important part of growing fungi. The mushrooms grown in direct sunlight turned brown instead of white, showing that fungi do best in indirect light.

In conclusion, mushrooms have been consumed for thousands of years. Some are very poisonous and some have been used to provide medical care. Through the observations in my experiment, I learned that the best place to grow mushrooms is in a cool, dark, moist environment.

Fungi is an important part of the ecosystem because it helps trees absorb water and nutrients. If the climate changes to create hot and dry conditons, fungi would not grow well due to its need of moist and cool condtions.  If there is no fungi, it would be bad for the ecosystem. For example, trees would not grow as well and would produce less oxygen for animals. 

I did my best to control the amount of moisture and light, as well as the temperature of each mushroom block based on the conditions they were supposed to be growing in. However, on one day, I accidentally sprayed the dry block with one squirt of water.

‘Frog’s umbrella’ and ‘ghost’s face powder’: The cultural roles of mushrooms and other fungi for Canadian Indigenous Peoples
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjb-2021-0052 

Alberta Mycological Society
https://www.albertamushrooms.ca/resources/mushroom-resources/

9 most poisonous mushrooms: deadly fungi you don't want to mess with                 
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/plant-facts/fungi/poisonous-mushrooms

7 of the World’s Most Poisonous Mushrooms
https://www.britannica.com/story/7-of-the-worlds-most-poisonous-mushrooms#:~:text=Death%20Cap%20(Amanita%20phalloides)&text=Perhaps%20the%20deadliest%20of%20all,damage%20cells%20throughout%20the%20body.

Wildly Delicious: Pine Mushrooms (Trichloma Matsutake)
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/food-and-drink/wildly-delicious-pine-mushrooms-trichloma-matsutake-1927760

Morel Mushroom
https://foodstory.ca/foods/morel-mushroom

Cantharellus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantharellus

Mycorrhiza
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza

Ophiocordyceps unilateralis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis

Thank you to the Science Fair/Club teachers, Mme Jaques and Mme Roe, for helping me with my project.