Dry rot fungus, SEM

Credit: DR JEREMY BURGESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Caption: Dry rot fungus. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of dry rot in a piece of domestic plywood. Dry rot is a fungus (Serpula lachrymans) which infects damp timber. As the fungal network, or mycelium, grows, it destroys the cellulose in the wood and weakens its structure. The mycelium consists of strands known as hyphae, the thin threads seen here. The thicker objects are fragments of wood.

Release details: Model release not required. Property release not required.

Keywords: biological, biology, coloured, digesting, dry rot, eumycota, false-coloured, fungal, fungi, fungus, hyphae, microbiological, microbiology, mycelium, mycology, nature, plywood, rotten, rotting, scanning electron micrograph, scanning electron microscope, sem, serpula lachrymans, wood

Licence fees: A licence fee will be charged for any media (low or high resolution) used in your project.