DescriptionThe cold wind-swept tundra above tree-line on mountain tops and in the Arctic is not the usual place to look for mushrooms. These are some of the coldest places on earth. But the mushrooms are there: tucked under willows nestled among mosses lying exposed in meadows and poking up on bare wet soil. These cold-hardy fungi play critical roles as decomposers and nutrient gatherers for alpine plants in these extreme environments. Their diversity is surprising given the harsh conditions. This talk will display these Arctic and Alpine beauties in their natural habitats primarily in the scenic Rocky Mountains and the open landscapes of the Arctic and discuss how past glaciation has influenced their distribution. The speakerCathy Cripps is mycologist and professor at Montana State University where she teaches and does research on fungi. She earned her BS from the University of Michigan and PhD from Virginia Tech with Dr. Orson Miller. Her research on mushrooms that survive in Arctic and alpine habitats has taken her to Iceland Svalbard Norway Greenland the Austrian Alps and Finland. She is co-author of The Essential Guide to Rocky Mountain Mushrooms by Habitat editor of Fungi in Forest Ecosystems and Arctic and Alpine Mycology 8 and she has authored numerous scientific papers. With over 40 years of experience collecting mushrooms first as an amateur when she lived in a cabin in Colorado and later as a professional leading forays and teaching field classes in Montana her love and enthusiasm for the Rocky Mountains and its fungal creatures runs deep.