photographer JEREMY RITCH
It’s one of nature’s greatest treasure hunts. Brightly-coloured and fantastically-shaped fungi flourish around Tasmania, given life by autumn rains.
Fungi spotting has become popular among both locals and tourists, and dedicated tours have developed to cater to the demand. Amateur enthusiasts and professional spotters alike flood the internet with images of their finds, creating a continuously-updated photo gallery.
Chief among these is the kaleidoscopic Tasmanian Fungi Facebook page, which was established in 2014 with about 300 members, and now hosts close to 18,000 people, sharing tips on everything from species identification to photography techniques.
One of the first to join was Helen Robertson. “I arrived in Tasmania in mid-summer, then the autumn rains came and my forest suddenly sprouted so many fabulous fungi – bright purples, red, yellows,” she said. “I googled ‘bright purple fungi Tasmania’ and found the Tasmanian Fungi Facebook group. When I joined, I noticed that a woman called Pat lived in Stanley, which is not far from me, so I messaged and asked if I could join her on her next bushwalk. That was eight years ago and now we are great mates and usually go fungi hunting every Monday when I’m not working.”
Among the most frequent contributors is Jeremy Ritch, who became hooked on fungi photography three years ago when given a tour of a friend’s property in Moorleah, near Wynyard.
“Prior to this I’d thought mushrooms were all white and brown,” Ritch said. “But while on the tour of the property I was blown away by the incredible fungi – from blues, reds, oranges; spotty and fluffy. I started taking photos and from that day on my obsession has only grown.
“The thing I find the most fascinating about fungi is the constant change. I can go walking today and see a bare log in the bush with nothing but some moss or a bit of algae, but two days later it could literally be covered in thousands of blue mushrooms or yellow jellies. You never know what you're going to find on any given day. You get the feeling if you stay home, you might miss something.
“It's like a treasure hunt for grown-ups.”
Tasmanian mycologist Genevieve Gates feels that the advent of mobile phones and social media platforms like Facebook have contributed to the swell in popularity of fungi and fungi-hunting in recent years.
“And of course, the beauty about Tasmania is that it has a lot of intact forested habitats and you don’t have to drive huge distances to get some good fungal places,” she said. “You do need wet conditions so a dry forest will explode after a good rain. Mt Wellington is magnificent for fungi.”
Dr Gates is a luminary in the Tasmanian mycology scene. She founded the Tasmanian Fungi Facebook group, published the first Field Guide to Tasmanian Fungi with co-author Dr David Ratkowsky and put together a foldable, pictorial guide to Tasmanian fungi called FungiFlip.
“I always had an interest in natural history and fungi provided a very underexplored niche,” Gates said. “Collecting appealed to my slightly addictive nature … I fell in love with a spore and that affair lasted 14 years and resulted in a monograph on a family of Tasmanian fungi!”
She describes fungi as underexplored, and she’s not joking. There are now about 120,000 formally identified species of fungi around the world, but experts estimate there could be between two and 10 million.
Until relatively recently, fungi were thought to be plants, but modern microscopes showed them to be a distinct group. We also now recognise their pivotal role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem. They form symbiotic relationships with 90 per cent of terrestrial plants to deliver nutrients and water in return for sugars; provide food to native species such as the Tasmanian bettong; improve soil structure and water retention; assist the seeds of native orchids to germinate; and act as major recyclers of organic material like fallen timber.
However, recognition of and investment in this important group of species is equally underexplored. Environment reports at both state and federal levels included fungi in their definition of biodiversity only from 2016. They are also largely left out of conservation programs to protect or improve biodiversity in Australia.
In Tasmania, 23 species of fungi, all of which are types of lichen, are listed as threatened. This is despite a growing list of threats including habitat destruction, climate change, the impact of invasive species, pollution, trampling, and the use of fungicides. Many fungi have specific ecological requirements and restricted distributions that make them vulnerable to such changes in their environment.
Nonetheless, a wave of increased public interest in fungi is taking place, helped by the online photography exhibition curated by a community of enthusiasts like Jeremy Ritch, Helen Robertson and Genevieve Gates. Only time will tell if these activities result in greater recognition of, and strengthened protections for, these important species.
Grace Heathcote is a Tasmanian writer. With a background in ecology and conservation, she has worked throughout Australia but has a soft spot for all things Tasmanian. Her writing has been published nationally, including in The Guardian, and her academic publications can be found in peer-reviewed journals such as Conservation Biology and Wildlife Research.
