Fungal Genomics & Biology
Open Access
ISSN: 2165-8056
ISSN: 2165-8056
Scripps Center for Astrophysics Space Sciences, Dept. Aerospace Engineering, University of Californi, United States
Research Article
Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior from Sequential Images
Author(s): Rudolph Schild*, Richard Armstrong, Xinli Wei, Carl Gibson, Olivier Planchon, David Duvall, Ashraf M. T. Elewa, N. S. Duxbury, H. Rabb, Khalid Latif and R.G.Joseph
Fungi thrive in radiation intense environments. Sequential photos document that fungus-like Martianspecimens emerge from the soil and increase in size, including those resembling puffballs (Basidiomycota). After obliteration of spherical specimens by the rover wheels, new sphericals—some with stalks--appeared atop the crests of old tracks. Sequences document that thousands of black arctic “araneiforms” grow up to 300 meters in the Spring and disappear by Winter; a pattern repeated each Spring and which may represent massive colonies of black fungi, mould, lichens, algae, methanogens and sulfur reducing species. Black fungi-bacteria-like specimens also appeared atop therovers. In a series of photographs over three days (Sols) white amorphous specimens within acrevice changed shape and location then disappeared. White protoplasmic-mycelium-like-tendrilswith fruiting-bo.. View More»