2024 Past Lectures
July 9 / Susan Goldhor
MUSHROOMING FOR THE TABLE: A BEGINNER’S GUIDE
Eating mushrooms that you’ve hunted yourself doesn’t have to be scary or dangerous. This program will start you off with descriptions of a dozen choice edibles, found in our region, which are easy to identify and hard to mistake. You’ll learn how they grow and how to cook them, preserve them and eat them safely. Even if you’re gun-shy, you can experience the thrill of the hunt and the excitement of eating wild foods, in all their variety and deliciousness!
May 19 / Hans-Otto Baral
ORBILIOMYCETES: a diverse, species-rich group of inoperculate discomycetes with fascinating morphology and peculiar ecology
The Orbiliomycetes are a class of ascomycetes which belongs to the first which produced ascomata. It only includes one family, Orbiliaceae, with 10 genera and around 500 described species. Among them, the genus Orbilia is presently the most species-rich with around 415 species.
May 9 / Bob Blanchette
FUNGAL WORLD WONDERS: A DISCUSSION OF SOME OF THE MOST AMAZING FUNGI I HAVE ENCOUNTERED
Bob Blanchette is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota where he teaches classes and carries out research on the biology and ecology of fungi that grow on and attack trees and wood. He has studied fungi around the globe, from Minnesota’s old growth temperate forests to the rainforests of the Amazon and tropical forests of Asia, as well as many investigations on fungi in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Apr 28 / Martin Axegård
NOT ALL CORAL FUNGI ARE RAMARIA: FIELD CHARACTERS AND TAXONOMY OF RAMARIOID FUNGI WITHIN THE ORDER GOMPHACEAE
Ramaria are some of the most conspicuous members of basidiomycota – colorful, prolific, and frequently growing to an impressive size. They have a reputation of being hard to identify. Martin took this “bad rep” as a provocation and leapt into all the literature on the subject, picking up basic mycological Italian along the way. He is now one of the top Ramaria experts in the EU, particularly in the Nordic countries, with a proficiency for identifying them by macroscopic characters.
Mar 14 / Anne Pringle
LAST CHANCE TO KNOW? THE CHANGING BIOGEOGRAPHY OF MUSHROOMS AND THE DEATH CAP IN CALIFORNIA
As humans reshape Earth’s biodiversity, conservationists and the public worry about what will happen to animals and plants. But what about fungi? Mushrooms are also on the move, and movements are often mediated by commerce and trade. Humans brought the fungus Amanita phalloides to California, and it is now invasive. How did that happen and why is it spreading?
Mar 5 / Susan Goldhor
FUNGI & TREES, OR, WHAT’S NEW IN THE HIDDEN FOREST: LOOKING AT TREES
Susan gave a talk on selected recent findings on the inhabitants of leaves, trunks and roots, that change how we think about these invisible communities.
Feb 29 / Alfredo Justo
LAST CHANCE TO KNOW? THE CHANGING BIOGEOGRAPHY OF MUSHROOMS AND THE DEATH CAP IN CALIFORNIA
We will present an overview of the taxonomy and distribution of the species of Pluteus in North America based on morphological studies and molecular phylogenies
Feb 18 / Sarah Llyod:
MYXOMYCETES AT BLACK SUGARLOAF, NORTHERN TASMANIA - A SLIME MO(U)LD HOTSPOT
The taxonomic position of slime moulds has baffled naturalists and scientists for centuries. When “the father of taxonomy” Swedish botanists Carl Linneus devised his system of classification he included slime moulds (and fungi) in the plant kingdom. Slime moulds were subsequently placed in various kingdoms but are now regarded as amoebozoans.
Feb 8 / Primrose Boynton:
YEASTS: THE ENORMOUS DIVERSITY OF SINGLE-CELLED FUNGI
Most fungi are completely invisible to humans. While we love to admire beautiful mushrooms and other large fruiting bodies in the forest, entire communities of cryptic and microscopic fungi are living and growing under our feet. Single-celled fungi, also known as yeasts, are among these cryptic fungi. Because they are single-celled, we can’t see them with our own eyes, and yet they exist in almost all environments on Earth. The single-celled growth form evolved several times from hyphal ancestors and is common worldwide, but yeasts’ roles in ecosystems are often mysterious.
Jan 25 / Rachel Swenie:
DIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION OF CHANTERELLES AND ALLIES
This talk will discuss the common edible chanterelle mushrooms and their relatives.