2024 Past Lectures
Jan 25 / Rachel Swenie:
DIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION OF CHANTERELLES AND ALLIES
This talk will discuss the common edible chanterelle mushrooms and their relatives.
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.
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 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
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.
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?