A few years back, a biologist reported that the wooden walls of Scott’s Antarctic house were being attacked by a species of wood-consuming fungus.
Where the hut is located, temperatures average below zero-during the brief Antarctic summer, the temperature may (briefly) rise to 45 F or so.
Given this, how would a fungal orgaism grow and metabolize the wood?
Incidentally, I read a book about Antartica (written in 1971)-at that time, Scott’s hut was basically undisturbed (no tourism to Antarctica)-how would a fungus spore have gotten in to the hut?
This guy was taking pictures of the inside-he was warned that the hut was contaminated by deadly mold spores-is this possible.
Well, I think the real question is why why would you think it would not happen? There are bugs living and growing in your freezer, you know. They just grow a bit slower than they do in the warm.
The only reason I can think of why someone might think that life could not continue at all in the cold is that there does need to be liquid water inside cells (for all “life as we know it, Jim”) for metabolism to continue. Organisms that thrive in the cold have evolved special molecules that act like antifreeze to keep their intracellular water liquid down to temperatures below the freezing point of regular, fairly pure water. (Actually the chemicals that are in the cell fluid anyway, as part of the cell’s general biochemistry, will lower the freezing point a bit below zero degrees C in any case, but cold-adapted organisms have special stuff that is more effective in this regard.)
Some organisms can stay alive through freezing and thawing, as well. Sure, they may not grow while frozen, but as long as it doesn’t get too cold, they just keep on going once the water melts again.
Amphibians and other heterotherm creaturs show how to do it: you use different enzymes than the species that thrive in warm temps. Like putting glycol in your car water to keep it from freezing, you use different compounds.
you can also see this at the other extreme: bacteria have been found in boiling hot - that is, 100 C - springs. Obviously they adapted their enzymes and proteins to keep from denaturing. There are some wonderful creatures living at the bottom of the sea - with thousands of tons of pressure on them - near volcanic vents, because it’s pitchblack, so instead of photosynthesis they use chemical reactions to get energy.
It’s really amazing how life adapts to extreme circumstances.
When one kingdom of life produced a poisionus byproduct and released it into the atmosphere, 90% of species were killed, but the remaining adapted so well that all organisms today depend on the gas.
In regards to how fungus spores get into things: they’re just really, really small and they are carried well by the wind. You don’t even need people to explain that. When considered on the scale of wind-borne microbes, even the Arctic isn’t so remote.
As just one example of how much stuff is out there: bread is still made by simply exposing the ingredients to the air and using “wild” yeast. You just can’t avoid the stuff.
I’m not sure if your bread is real or not. When most people make bread, they add a yeast culture to the mix.
Anyway, while there may not have been tourism to Scott’s hut in 1971, there was a large scientific support base right on its doorstep, McMurdo Station. It’s only about 24km in a straight line to Cape Evans, the site of Scott’s hut from his 1910-1912 expedition. It’s even closer to the Discovery hut, from his 1901-1904 expedition, like about 500m.
Various lifeforms have adapted to live in a freeze-thaw world. There are shallow hollows in Antarctica that have liquid water during summer and they have an algae growth. When the water freezes and then sublimates, the algae dry up and appear to be dead. When the water returns though, they revive. There are also some lichens that live in the first few millimetres of rock surfaces in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The rocks are discoloured by the growth during summer, becoming slightly green or red. The growth becomes dormant when winter comes, surviving until the next summer, protected by the rock from wind but not the cold of course.
Obviously, a culture is faster and more predictable. But just Google wild yeast and sourdough starter. It is not necessary to add a culture - we’re surrounded by airborne microbes.