Bioluminescence among North American Armillaria species in response to biotic and abiotic stimuli
J. MIHAIL (1). (1) University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, U.S.A.
Bioluminescence has previously been documented for at least 60 species of white-spored members of the Basidiomycota including four species of the wood-decay genus <i>Armillaria</i> (i.e., <i>A. gallica</i>, <i>A. mellea</i>, <i>A. ostoyae</i> and <i>A. tabescens</i>). Using a Sens-Tech photomultiplier to measure mycelial luminescence, light production is reported for the first time for <i>A. calvescens</i>, <i>A. cepistipes</i>, <i>A. gemina</i>, <i>A. nabsnona</i>, and <i>A. sinapina</i>. Using series of 1000 consecutive luminescence measurements for the nine <i>Armillaria</i> species, luminescence dynamics were found to have quantifiable structure and were not simply ‘white noise’ processes (i.e., significant Bartlett’s Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics in all cases). Mycelia of eight of nine <i>Armillaria</i> species exhibited transient and/or statistically significant stable changes in luminescence magnitude in response to a series of mechanical shocks of 200 N applied by a chiropractic adjustment tool. Preliminary data suggest a statistically significant shift in mycelial luminescence after exposure to a con-specific or con-generic luminescent neighbor. Ongoing studies are focused on changes in directional growth of <i>Armillaria</i> mycelia in response to a neighboring con-specific or con-generic luminescent mycelium.
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