III.A.3 What Are Spores and How Can You Find Them?

Concepts: Spore dispersal, fungal reproduction, and microscopic size of spores.
Skills: Observation, description, discussion, and appreciation of natural design.
Time needed: First day: approximately 10 minutes. Second Day: approximately 10 minutes.
Best time of year: Anytime mushrooms can be found (usually warm, wet periods).
Sunshine State Standards: SC.F.2.2.1, VA.A.1.2.1, VA.A.1.2.2, VA.A.1.2.3, VA.A.1.2.4, VA.B.1.2.1, VA.B.1.2.4

III.A.3 What Are Spores and How Can You Find Them?

During this two-day activity, your students will make prints using spores from mushroom caps.

Materials:

Each student or team of students needs:

  • 1-2 mushroom caps (with pores or with intact gills)
  • A light or dark piece of paper (or both)
  • 1-2 plastic cups or bowls

Teacher needs:

  • Spray fixative or hair spray
Instructions for the teacher:
  1. Use the question "Where do spores come from?" to start a spore discussion with your class. (Spores are a mushroom's way of reproducing. Each mushroom cap has millions of spores, which are difficult to see without magnification. Some species of mushrooms can be identified from other species only by their spore color! For more information about spores.

  2. Distribute materials to your students. Have each student label the piece of paper with their name, the date, and place the mushroom was collected.

  3. If the mushroom cap still has its stem attached, have students gently break it off. The caps should then be very carefully placed gill or pore side down on a piece of dark paper. (Spores show up best on dark paper.) If you have enough mushroom caps, place another cap (preferably same type of mushroom) on a light piece of paper.

  4. Cover the cap with a bowl or cup and leave it undisturbed for 24 hours or overnight.

  5. Carefully remove the cup and mushroom cap and examine the design left by the spores. What color are the spores? (Most spores will look white on a dark piece of paper and pale yellow or pink on white paper.)

  6. Use hair spray or a spray lacquer to fix the spores to the paper and preserve the print.



Notes

Spore prints cannot be made with puffball mushrooms. If you have a fresh puffball mushroom, you can observe the spores by carefully squeezing the "ball" to release the smoke-like spores. These spores will be kept afloat by even a light breeze for hours or days and will travel great distances.

Results

After completing this activity, you students should:

  • Understand that mushrooms reproduce by spreading spores.
  • Be aware that not all kinds of mushrooms hold or release their spores in the same way.
  • Be able to observe carefully.
III. LIFE IN THE LEAF LITTER LAYER
A. Mushrooms:    III.A.1    III.A.2    III.A.3
B. Life in a Microhabitat    III.B.1
C. Glossary    D. Questions for Student Evaluation