Tom Bigelow

This talk will discuss the common edible chanterelle mushrooms and their relatives. Despite their appearance, chanterelles are close relatives of a wide assortment of fungi with diverse forms that play many different roles in our ecosystems. How is it that such an oddball assortment of fungi are all closely related? How many species of chanterelles grow in North America? How can you tell species apart from each other, and from lookalikes? We will cover these topics and more!

Rachel Swenie is a mycologist with expertise in the macrofungi of eastern North America. She earned her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee and is currently a Farlow Fellow at Harvard University. 

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.
In this talk, I will introduce you to the wonderful world of naturally-occurring yeasts; giving some historic context on how humans have been interacting with yeasts for thousands of years, before discussing what we do and don't know about yeast ecology in nature. Then I'll discuss my own work with yeasts: I work with yeasts in several natural New England habitats, including temperate forests and carnivorous plants. I am working to expand our knowledge of yeast ecology and evolution by focusing on how yeasts interact with other living things in nature. With this talk, I hope to give audience members a new appreciation for the mysterious and intriguing invisible fungal diversity they encounter every day.

In 1989, a standing forest in Finland was burnt for restoration purposes. It was a first in Finland - and perhaps in the whole of Europe. Collections of wood-decaying polypore fungi were studied on the burn site, beginning a year before the fire and continuing for 33 years after. It is likely that the number of species observed during the study period was a record for any one-hectare forest area in Finland. Several red-listed species were found and in general, the effects of burning appeared to have a positive effect on polypore diversity.

Kaisa Junninen works as a senior specialist on species conservation at Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland. She is a forest ecologist who has specialized in polypore fungi, deadwood ecology and natural forests, and has been in charge of red-listing polypore fungi in Finland. She is featured in Considering Fungi, Episode 1: Facilitating Habitat Formation in Boreal Forests

February 20th, 7:30 pm Madeline DeDe-Panken will discuss the rise of popular mycology in America at the turn of the twentieth century, focusing on cultural clashes […]