Home»All Albums & Groups»Kenya — January, 2015»Meru — Coprophilic Fungi

~ Natural selection being inherently resource conservative, the byproducts of metabolism serve as nutrient sources. Buffalo and elephant dung carries with it the spores of coprophilic fungi, which were ingested from plant leaves. They give rise to mushrooms such as these, which accelerate the breaking down of the metabolites present in the dung. A small Diptera sp. is on a mushroom cap, reflecting the temporary community which forms around available nutrient sources.