- May 2023 – Spectacular symbiosis – An introduction to Lichens – Lauren Re'
- April 2023 – The Slime Moulds I have Known – Pam Janszen
- March 2023 – Mycological Diversity and Ethnobotanical History of Psilocybe – Dr Jessie Uehling
- February 2023 – The Ecology of Rhizopus microsporus- Brandon Stairs
- January 2023 – Profiles of Northwest Fungi – Buck McAdoo
- December 2022 – The slippery nature of echtomycorrhizal fungal host specificity – Dr Peter Kennedy
- November 2022 – Evolution of bacterial fungal interactions in the Mucoromycota – Dr Jessie Uehling
- October 2022 – Cryptic Niches: Unusual fungi and where to find them – Jack Johnson
- September 2022 – Forest fires and post fire fungi – Ron Hamill – No video available
May 2023 – Spectacular symbiosis – An introduction to Lichens – Lauren Re’
Lichens surround us and yet they’re largely overlooked. They inhabit nearly every environment on earth, draping old growth forests, engulfing harsh alpine peaks, uniting expansive desert crusts and even lining city streets. But who are they? How do they live within a dynamic symbiosis? What is their ecological importance? In this talk, Lauren Re’ will explore some answers to these questions, as well as covering introductory topics of lichen biology, morphology, a few common Pacific Northwest species, and how to identify them.
April 2023 – The Slime Moulds I have Known – Pam Janszen
Pam Janszen will be joining us virtually from British Columbia to talk about “Slime moulds I have known”. As a self-taught mycologist, Slime Moulds have been on Pam’s radar for over 25 years. She collected her first one on August 4th, 1996, as part of the fungal inventories she was doing. Somewhere after 500+ fungal species, she found herself getting really interested in Myxomycetes. “They are just the most unusual little critters!” She wanted to document them at all their life stages. More often than not, they are super beautiful.
March 2023 – Mycological Diversity and Ethnobotanical History of Psilocybe – Dr Jessie Uehling
Our March speaker will be OSU professor Dr. Jessie Uehling. In 2020, Oregon voters approved a ballot measure to allow the use of psilocybin (the hallucinogenic compound found in some mushrooms) in therapeutic settings. Preliminary data shows psilocybin has the potential to address mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Dr. Uehling is the mycologist for Oregon’s Psilocybin Advisory Board which has developed the administrative rules to ensure a safe and equitable system for psilocybin use. Dr. Uehling will discuss mycological diversity and the ethnobotanical history of psilocybin use, and will be glad to answer questions about her area of expertise as it relates to psilocybin services.
February 2023 – The Ecology of Rhizopus microsporus- Brandon Stairs
Our February speaker is Brandon Stairs, the recipient of the CMS 2022 Freeman Rowe Scholarship Award. Brandon is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Biology & Plant Pathology at Oregon State University; and is a Research Assistant in the Uehling Mycological Research Lab at OSU. Brandon will be giving us an update on the research project for which his scholarship was awarded. His talk is titled “The human pathogenicity, bacteria endosymbiosis, and environmental ecology of Rhizopus microsporus. Rhizopus microsporus is used commercially in the production of tempeh, a fermented soybean product that originates from Indonesia. It is also a plant pathogen and an opportunistic human fungal pathogen.
January 2023 – Profiles of Northwest Fungi – Buck McAdoo
Long time PNW mushroomer Buck McAdoo talks about his book Profiles of Northwest Fungi which presents a composite of mushrooms previously described by Buck in ‘Mushrooms of the Month’ articles in “Mushrumors”, the newsletter of the Northwest Mushroomers’ Association. Each mushroom profiled includes their morphology, microscopic features, ecology, global distribution, associated species and look-alikes. The book represents forty years of Buck’s anecdotes and research.
December 2022 – The slippery nature of echtomycorrhizal fungal host specificity – Dr Peter Kennedy
Dr Kennedy, mycologists and professor at the University of Minnesota, will discuss his lab’s recent explorations of the specificity of associations between ectomycorrhizal trees and fungi. Their work has focused primarily on two related fungal genera that are abundant in the Pacific Northwest, Suillus (commonly known as the slippery jacks) and Rhizopogon (commonly known as false truffles).
November 2022 – Evolution of bacterial fungal interactions in the Mucoromycota – Dr Jessie Uehling
Due to the ongoing nature of the research, this video is not available – description of presentation here.
October 2022 – Cryptic Niches: Unusual fungi and where to find them – Jack Johnson
Molecular Biologist and community scientist Jack Johnson will share with us the more bizarre places fungi have made a living, in places you’d never imagine. Interspersed with some ecology, and a bit of slime mold anatomy. By the end of his presentation, everyone should have a running list of new places to look for fungi they might not have thought about.