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  • The Kitchen Mycologist

    The delicious surprises, the utter flops, the great tips, and the ultimate lessons I learned from making our Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook.

  • Do We Have European Wax Cap (Hygrophoraceae) Species? Or Are We Headed For Eurexit?

    While some species of Hygrophoraceae were described by Peck, Murrill, Singer, Hesler and Smith, many of the named species in Hygrophoraceae were described from Europe, and those European names have been applied to collections from North America. How many of these species on either side of the Atlantic are truly the same species? This presentation will go through a series of paired comparisons of molecular phylogeny and % similarity in ITS barcodes between European species and their American counterparts to address this question.

  • Australian Boletes: From There to Here

    Featured

    Early reports of boletes occurring in Australia consisted of short published descriptions largely compiled by non-resident mycologists. Efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries mostly concentrated on Queensland with the goal of assembling records, recognizing modern genera, rectifying nomenclature with placement of known specimens as well as the description of new taxa. Approximately 25 genera and well over 100 species have been documented. These numbers will certainly increase with current work in recording new species and new genera, coupled with taxonomic re-alignment, concept clarification, and reports of extended biogeographic distribution. The diverse array of these obligate mycorrhizal fungi illustrates some enigmatic biogeographical patterns.

  • Mycoparasitism: When Good Fungi Turn Bad

    Many examples exist where fungi use other fungi as sources of nutrition, causing their fungal hosts to incur damage as a result. This phenomenon is called 'mycoparasitism', and it is surprisingly common in nature. Many common fungi that you may already be familiar with participate in this exploitative ecological relationship. Join Dr. James Scott from the University of Toronto for a brief tour of the fascinating world of mycoparasitism, and uncover some of the secret lives behind your favorite fungi!

  • Fascinating spores

    The talk “Fascinating spores” will focus on spores, their role in the life of a mushroom, and on correlations between spore characters and life style and dispersal, with an emphasis on all the things that we don’t know! (please note: this talk will not be recorded)

  • Identifying Fungi and Their Habitats in Need of Conservation

    Species of fungi are not immune to the threats that put species of animals and plants at risk: habitat loss, loss of symbiotic hosts, pollution, over exploitation, and climate. Because resources, financial and human, will always be limited, determining which species are thriving and which are rare or declining is crucial for targeting conservation action towards species in greatest need. Assessing the conservation status of a species (bird, plant, or fungus) requires some minimal data including information on its distribution, population size and trend, and information on why it might be in decline. Much of the data needed are observational – what occurs where and when and are these patterns changing....

  • Fungal microscopy

    In this lecture you will learn why you might want to use a microscope what types of microscope there are how to choose a microscope how […]

  • Tea Party Teleomorphs: Dead-Man’s Fingers and Allied Fungi of the Boston Harbor Islands

    Roo Vandegrift Description:Join Dr. Roo Vandegrift for a rapid romp through the Xylariales, an order of ascomycete 'flask' fungi, generally growing on wood and other plant debris. Learn the important families and genera within the order, illustrated with examples taken from an extensive fungal inventory conducted between December 2012 and May 2017 at the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (BHI) in Massachusetts (Haelewaters et al. 2018). A new species, Xylaria finismundoensis, is described: this taxon provides the decomposer 'missing link' for a group of a Xylaria previously only known as endophytes (a type of plant symbiont).

  • A Systematic Overview of North American Inocybaceae

    The Inocybaceae is an ectomycorrhizal family of mushroom-forming fungi with some 1000 species worldwide. Seven genera are now recognized in the family, but the last revision of North American taxa in the group took place nearly 100 years ago. Since this time the number of known species in North America has tripled, and various estimates put the number of species in the family from this area between 300-400. This overview will present an introduction to the family Inocybaceae, some evolutionary and ecological background, and showcase recent systematic developments in the group.