Because the soil layer was so thin, most hyphae, which usually grow and spread underground by releasing spores, were easily seen, giving the researchers an opportunity to observe where connections were being made in the mycelium. Early hyphal coverage was not too different between the X and circle formations. Later, each showed a strong hyphal network, which makes up the mycelium, but there were differences between them.
While the hyphal network was pretty evenly distributed around the circle, there were differences between the inner and outer blocks in the X arrangement. Levels of decay activity were determined by weighing the blocks before and after the incubation period, and decay
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