Fig. 3

Accumulation of basidiospores in plastic lids positioned at different distances to the surfaces of mushrooms placed upside-down onto wet tissues in the base of Petri-dishes or glass jars. Spores were collected after 18 h incubation. Spore values were calculated as averages with standard deviations from each three distinct samples (Kuehneromyces mutabilis: each 1/2 of a mushroom; Coprinopsis atramentaria, Lepista nuda: each 1/4 of a mushroom; Coprinus comatus: each 1/8 of a mushroom; all others: complete mushrooms; for their full species names see Table 2). Values are shown for all distances where spores were found in the lids; lack of spores in lids (0 spores) after incubation is documented in the graphs by no value entry. In all instances, distances up to 10 cm were tested in 1-cm steps. Subfigures are arranged by spore lengths of the species, from longest (a) to shortest (l). a–c: 12.2–8.9 µm; d–f: 8.5–8.1 µm; g–i: 7.6–7.3 µm; j–l: 6.8–6.2 µm (for detailed data compare the entries in Table 2). Grey shaded triangles with angle values given for the right corner (55°, 65° or 70°) indicate grouping by similar steepness of logarithmic decrease in spore numbers with increasing distance to the lids