 © Copyright notice
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| Going
underground into the enclosed environment chamber affectionally known as "the
Wormhole" |
"The
Wormhole" contrary to a recent newspaper story describing it as a
"converted bomb shelter", was originally built in 1981 as a large underground
rainwater reservoir that was rarely called upon for it's intended purpose.
Internal dimensions: 12m length 4m width and 3m depth .
The advantages to researchers are simply that the Wormhole can be kept in 24hour darkness
thus facilitating the observation of bioluminescent organisms at any time of day or night.
It is also humidity adjustable and retains a relatively stable temperature.
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inside view of part of one
side of the Wormhole |
After discovering that a small colony
of glow worms had taken up residence in the reservoir in 1996 they were re-located
externally during modifications and it was converted into a walk-in underground controlled
environment research and study area initially for glow worms.
It is currently used for the study of bioluminescent organisms.
The original study of glow worms was done in 1998/9 using transplanted specimens and all
observations were recorded.
The below average rainfall from
2000/2007 impacted on all external glow worm colonies causing declining numbers of glow
worms available for relocation. Rainfall records indicate that we have not received a
'normal' summer wet season here for 6 years.
This year we have not been able to stock the wormhole with the same number of glow worms
used in the study project 8 years ago.
The Wormhole is also used as a breeding area for glow worms to supplement our external
colonies whenever adverse weather conditions cause damage to glow worm numbers in the
natural environment, and also to establish new colonies.
Hopefully this year as numbers build up in the external colonies we may be able to restock
the Wormhole and commence a new study to validate the original findings.
The Wormhole is currently being utilised
for an ongoing study of the four different types of luminous fungi that are indigenous to this area.
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Type_B luminous mushroom
mycelium grown in 24 hour darkness |
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12 metre by 0.5 metre bed of
luminous forest leaf litter grown in total darkness for 7 years. |
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Innoculated logs in 24 hour
darkness to compare fruiting time with innoculated logs externally. |
Three of the four different species
of luminous fungi are currently being propogated as part of a long term study
G.Maguire
Springbrook Research Centre |
