There are many organisms within the forest that often go unnoticed either because of their excellent camouflage or because of their size or position. These organisms can be very interesting and humans could learn a lot from them if they were easier to see.

We created FUNGLOW, an installation that allows us to carefully observe the characteristics of an organism. This installation uses UV light which enables us to see luminescence, a green light which attracts many nocturnal insects such as fireflies - and normal light which allows us to see other features more clearly such as the shape and color of things.

We were inspired by the night tours at the OTS Biological Research Station (La Selva), in Siquirres, Costa Rica, which has a lot of nocturnal biodiversity. Through observing the behavior of a fungus in a micro-environment for 24 hours, we were able to witness very interesting things that cannot be seen with the naked eye. We did a test to attract fireflies to the mushroom in order to create an interaction between them. We realize how important the interactions that happen in these little micro-environments during the day and night, and how crowded it can get when many insects arrive at very specific times to interact in the ecosystem.

We realized that although a fungus is not bioluminescent per se, it can have luminescent compounds inside it that are only visible under UV light. We also demonstrate how easy it is to attract fireflies to a given spot using green LEDs. We were also able to learn about properties of the fungus such as the smell that  attracts certain insects at different times of the day.

FUNGLOW is a mini museum for organisms that are not seen with the naked eye which allows you to know and learn more about them in an interactive way.