Day 15: 10:15 hours…
After our adventure down the stream rapids, the Cyclops is in desperate need of repairs. I have ordered that the ship be secured along the shore so that my crew can begin the work.
Joining us is Tara, our explorer companion newly arrived from home base. Also a naturalist, she has an interest in the small life of terrestrial habitats. I am excited for this opportunity to explore the world of life on the land!
While the crew assembles the rover and the Cyclops undergoes repairs, Tara and I can journey into the nearby forest. We hope to discover what secrets lie in the upper levels of the soil, a region called the humus.
As the rover maneuvers through a dense mat of rotting leaves, we can see layers of bacteria decomposing the dead plant cell tissue. This must be the beginning of the forest floor food chain!
10:45 hours… Almost immediately we encounter a common animal of the forest floor, a bug whose outer shell is made up of overlapping plates – the sow bug. The sow bug’s only form of defense is to roll itself into a ball. For this reason the sow bug is often called a pill bug or roly-poly.
The sow bug can only live where there is moisture from soil and forest decay. We found them lurking beneath rotting leaves, feeding on the decaying plant tissue, gobbling up decomposer bacteria and leaf material.
On the underside of the sow bug we find the animal’s gills, arranged like pages in a book. This location keeps the delicate leaf-like membranes safe and moist, necessary for extracting oxygen from the air.
11:25 hours… Working the same habitat as the sow bug, we find two other inhabitants of the forest floor hummus – centipedes and millipedes. They have similar body structure – many armored segments, but very different feeding habits.
The millipede has two pairs of legs for each of its segments. It feeds on rotting leaves and decaying forest floor matter.
The centipede is a hunter! Its long sharp jaws are ideal for capturing small insects like crickets and termites. It moves much faster than a millipede. Centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment.
13:40 hours… A short observation-stop proves treacherous when a fast-growing bundle of living threads entangles the rover. We are unable to proceed! The threads appear to be absorbing nutrients from the rich soil, transporting them –to who knows where.
Using our clippers to free the vehicle, Tara suggests that we follow the thread system. Much to our surprise we discover that the threads converge into a single organism that rises up from the forest floor. This mushroom is how a fungus reproduces.
The mushroom’s singular purpose is to release microscopic fungal spores, and send them drifting away in the air. The spores will land and start a new growth of the thread-like fungal hyphae.