Thursday, March 27th, 7:30pm EDT

Fungaria are central to the study of fungi. They provide the physical evidence needed to describe a species morphologically; in many cases DNA sequences can be obtained from deposited material. The importance of depositing specimens in phylogenetic and genomic studies is essential. In this talk I will outline the general use and guidelines practiced in the administration of fungaria and how this relates to databases and Mycoportal in particular. Examples of how database information can enhance mycological studies. One can ask, how do you know if a particular fungus has been collected in a location before? Can one determine if a fungus is rare? How do we know if a particular collector could have been in the right place to have collected a particular sample? Each specimen tells a unique story. We will delve into some of those stories.

Don Pfister is Harvard’s Asa Gray Research Professor of Systematic Botany and Curator Emeritus of the Farlow Library and Herbarium/Fungarium. At Harvard he served in many roles including Faculty Dean at Kirkland House, Dean of the Harvard Summer School, Interim Dean of Harvard College and Director of the Harvard University Herbaria. He has taught courses ranging from the biology of fungi to plants used by people to forests and climate change, while his research has focused on the classification and diversity of fungi, history of collections and collectors of biological materials. His field work has taken him to many regions around the world, most recently southern South America; Patagonia and espiciallyTierra del Fuego. He has also been the generous and greatly appreciated scientific sponsor of the Boston Mycological Club for as long as we can remember.