Special Presentation: Xylaria of the Ecuadorian Cloud Forests: Wednesday, June 22

When: Wednesday, June 22, 2016 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Where: Amazon Community Center, 2700 Hilyard St, Eugene, Oregon 97405

Published June 12, 2016 · Updated July 17, 2016

Dr. Roo Vandegrift from the University of Oregon will be presenting “Xylaria of the Ecuadorian Cloud Forests”. The genus Xylaria (family Xylariaceae; Ascomycota) is a highly diverse group of wood decay fungi, including the common Candlesnuff Fungus (Xylaria hypoxylon) here in the PNW. Roo is currently writing a taxonomic treatment of Ecuadorian cloud forest Xylaria: fully illustrated, full dichotomous keys for identification, colour photo supplement, the works. This work will include around 50 species (including at least three species new to science, described for the first time in this book) and be one of the most comprehensive works on Xylaria this century, and certainly the best illustrated.

Dr. Roo Vandegrift

Dr. Vandegrift will be crowd-funding the whole project: funding for this sort of basic science has been steadily declining for decades, and this project will explore the feasibility of crowd-funding as a valuable alternative to traditional grants, and as a way to express to the National Science Foundation and other funding agencies that people value this sort of work.

This talk explores diversity and identification of tropical cloud forest Xylaria — why it’s important to be able to identify these fungi; their relationships to other, more familiar fungi; their ecological importance; and will conclude with a discussion of citizen-funded science. It will be illustrated with Mr. Danny Newman’s excellent photography, interspersed with Roo’s line drawings for the book. The talk is free and open to the public.