BLACK FALLOUT

OR SOOTY MOLD FUNGUS?

   photo by Gerry Hawkes ~ September 2005

In 2003 it was noticed that what was believed to be black, pollution

fallout was accumulating in unusual amounts on many surfaces.

This photo taken in September 2005 shows the fallout that had

accumulated on a metal roof of a remote log home in the

mountains a few miles from Woodstock, Vermont.

A patch of roof has been scrubbed clean for contrast.

However Lecanium Scale insects were present in the nearby trees

and the sticky, misty exudate they produce was coating nearby

objects and providing a substrate for the growth of sooty mold fungus.

For a good description of sooty mold fungus you can go to http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ht_sooty/ht_sooty.htm.  While what appears to be black fallout is more likely sooty mold fungus, its presence is indirectly linked to air pollution, as the following sentence from this web site indicates.

Because sooty molds are more common under warm conditions, the higher temperatures and increased drought stress brought on by a changing climate are expected to increase the prevalence of sooty molds.

            photo by Gerry Hawkes ~ September 2005

This leaf shows accumulations of black along its veins.

photo by Gerry Hawkes ~ September 2005

The top of this phone line junction box shows an accumulation

of black.  This box is on an underground line that serves

a remote home in Norwich, Vermont.

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Contact Gerry Hawkes: ghawkes@eco-systems.org