Substrate

Substrate (from Latin substratum — "base, layer underneath") — in biology, the place where organisms live and develop. Substrates serve as attachment sites for animals, plants, or other organisms and may also function as a nutrient medium.

In many cases, it is difficult to determine whether a fungal fruiting body is growing directly on soil or on buried plant debris such as small, partially decomposed twigs and leaves. This group includes both the king bolete (Boletus edulis), which clearly grows on soil, and the birch cup fungus (Ciboria betulicola), which inhabits birch catkins within the litter layer.

This group includes fungi that clearly grow on trees or fallen wood. Examples include the tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius) and the beloved honey fungus (Armillaria spp.).

This category groups species that grow on herbaceous plants. Sometimes, however, one must literally dig to find them — as with the tuberous dumontinia (Dumontinia tuberosa), which parasitizes windflowers (Anemone spp.).

This group comprises cones, acorns, nuts, and other hard fruits of trees and shrubs. A striking representative is the common scaly tooth (Auriscalpium vulgare), which readily colonizes pine cones in coniferous forests.

This group includes coprophilous fungi that develop on manure piles, animal dung, or soils enriched with large amounts of dung. Example: the semiovate panaeolus (Panaeolus semiovatus).

Mycophilous fungi — species that grow on the fruiting bodies or tissues of other fungi. Perhaps the most conspicuous example is the false earthstar (Asterophora lycoperdoides).

A fascinating group of fungi that develop on invertebrate animals — insects and spiders. Take a look at the striking scarlet cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris)!

This group includes both parasitic fungi of animals and humans — such as Aspergillus spp. — and fungi that inhabit the remains of vertebrates, for example, Onygena spp.

Lichenicolous fungi — a group of non-lichenized species that live on lichens as parasites or saprotrophs. The vast majority of lichenicolous fungi belong to the phylum Ascomycota (mostly micromycetes); basidiomycetes are rare in this group. The first representative in our guide is the peltigera arrhenia (Arrhenia peltigerina).

Note: Substrate classification is a key ecological character in fungal identification. When recording specimens, it is helpful to note not only the substrate category but also specific details (e.g., "on decaying oak log, bark partially removed" or "in mossy soil under Pinus"), as these observations can aid in accurate identification and ecological studies.