Bay Area Mycological Society

08/28/2023

Hello Fellow Fungiphiles!
David and I are beyond pleased to be able to host an exclusive Bay Area engagement with Dr. Justine Karst, a Canadian scientist and mycorrhizae researcher. She worked with Suzanne Simard in some of the research on this topic, but they diverged in the interpretation of results.
Justine is keenly intelligent, personable, and a great seeker of truth, no matter whose toes she might step on.
The concept of the Wood Wide Web resonated with many people, who already felt as though they believed that the natural world was a harmonious and friendly place (as opposed, of course, to many human societies). Initial findings, already personified by Simard, were seized upon by the popular press, and spun into mythology.
Please join us tonight for a sober analysis of the collected data, and the reinforcement of the importance of critical thinking.
Doors open at 7:30 pm. BAMS meeting begins at 8 pm. We will be back in Koshland Hall at our old meeting site at UC Berkeley, Rm. 338, just down the hall from the old Bruns lab. Entry through the inner courtyard only.
Bring along fungi if you have them.
See you there!
Debbie Viess and David Rust
Illustration for attention from the Rainbo World Website.

06/12/2023

BAMS Meeting
Debbie Viess | Australia 2023: FUNGA, flora and fauna
1002 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
June 21, 2023 | Wednesday | 7:30 – 9:30

A whirlwind tour of mostly mushrooms, from the East coast of Australia to the West, and down to the island of Tasmania.
Collaborating with mycologists across the Australian states, Debbie brings an up close and personal view of the amazing biota of Oz. Travel with her to the magical land Down Under, and see some of these wonders for yourself!

Location: 1002 Valley Life Sciences Building. Doors open at 7:30; Meeting starts promptly at 8:00.

If you've found mushrooms you'd like to identify, bring those along. Entrance to VLSB is on northwest entrance, under the staircase.

02/20/2023

BAMS meeting this Thursday with Peter Pellitier, postdoc in the Peay Lab at Stanford:

Peter Pellitier: A functional traits perspective on the mycorrhizal symbiosis
1002 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
February 23, 2023 | Thursday | 7:30 – 9:30

Pellitier is broadly interested in the functional biogeography of fungal communities, determinants of fungal community assembly and the role of symbiotic fungi in plant response to climate change. Peter bridges fungal genetics and ecosystem ecology using metagenomic approaches, and also employs large scale field surveys in the tropics and boreal forest to address fungal community response to global change.

01/07/2023

Some of you may be thinking this wimpy storm was why the fungus fair was canceled? But the weather in west Marin is different. Most of the main roads in the park are closed due to downed trees and flooding, and I’ve been told there’s no electricity at the visitor center. Stay safe.

01/04/2023

OK, folks. You should know that due to weather concerns -- falling trees, flooding -- that Point Reyes National Seashore has cancelled both the Saturday collecting walk and the Sunday Fungus Fair. We'll try again next year.

10/22/2022

Debbie Viess: “Toxic Fungi of North America, with an emphasis on California species
1002 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
October 26, 2022 | Wednesday | 7:30 – 9:30

The next BAMS meeting is coming right up. This engaging and detailed talk, first developed for an advanced biology/chemistry class at a private East Bay high school, provides a synopsis of mushroom poisonings in California and North America, including species involved, reasons for ingestions, symptoms, treatments and preventions.

Come learn about what NOT to eat if you forage for fungi in California!

Same location as last month. More info and directions here:
https://bayareamushrooms.org/calendar.html

09/16/2022

09/16/2022

09/16/2022

OK, BAMSters. We see the new format Facebook is trying to get us to use on this page and we HATE it. Meta Sucks. Luddites Rule! After I make this post, I'm switching back to the classic page. Everything should remain the same. We value your participation.

09/03/2022

Monika Fischer: Rising from the Ashes - how fungi survive and thrive after fire
1002 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
September 15, 2022 | Thursday | 7:30 – 9:30

Monika Fischer
Dr. Monika Fischer is a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Matt Traxler's at UC Berkeley. She collaborates with Prof. Tom Bruns and started exploring burned ecosystems after the 2013 Rim Fire burned through Bruns Lab field sites in Stanislaus National Forest. The Rim Fire was the first fire of its kind, giving researchers a unique opportunity to observe and investigate the mechanisms driving the behavior of fire-following fungi.

Dr. Fischer grew up in the South Bay and has always been a nature explorer, though she took a circuitous journey to academic research. Her first passion was food. She worked as a chef in and around Seattle for several years before realizing she had far too many questions to continue working in kitchens. Dr. Fischer got "bit by the fungal bug" while working at a farm-to-table restaurant where she first learned about mycorrhizal fungi and the soil microbiome while also falling in love with mushroom hunting. She eventually got her bachelor's degree in Biology from University of Washington where she studied the role that fungal endophytes play during plant invasions, and then went on to do her PhD in the lab of Professor Louise Glass at UC Berkeley studying the genetics of cell-to-cell communication in the model fungus, Neurospora crassa. Now, Dr. Fischer is working to develop her own research program investigating the molecular and genetic mechanisms that drive ecological processes (i.e. post-fire succession).

If you've found mushrooms you'd like to identify, bring those along. Entrance to VLSB is on northwest entrance, under the stairs on the right (https://bayareamushrooms.org/calendar.html) Doors open at 7:30. Meeting starts promptly at 8:00.

08/08/2021

This is an interesting explanation of cutting trees after a fire, of particular interest to mushroomers, since we're often kept out of post-fire environments.

01/29/2020

BAMS/PRNS 15th Annual Fungus Fair, Bear Valley Visitor Center, Feb. 2, 2020

01/29/2020

Come join BAMS! this weekend at Pt. Reyes National Seashore for our 15th Annual Fungus Fair and fungus hunt! Saturday morning, we meet at Bear Valley Visitor Center at 10 am, and then spread out across the Pt. Reyes Peninsula to gather the very best of the local fungi, from the smallest to the largest. Sat. afternoon we meet back at the Red Barn to sort and ID. And on Sunday, from 10-4 pm, we put on a Fair with our finds at the Bear Valley Visitor Center. There will be educational displays and talks throughout the day as well.

All of it free and open to all ages/nationalities/pick your category, we'll include it. We the Fungus People.

Please join us! This is also an opportunity for those with taxonomic skills to help ID those masses of fungi brought in on Saturday afternoon. It's a busy day, but lots of fun and learning. Help us to bring free fungal education to the masses, in partnership with a National Park.

Details here:
https://home.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/events_fungusfair.htm

01/29/2020

11/21/2019

Due to the short notice, I'm going to post this a couple different ways:

BAMS Meeting, Tuesday, November 26
338 Koshland Hall
Doors open at 7:30. Meeting starts at 8:00

Our speaker is Grady Pierroz, who will talk about his research on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and redwoods.

Details to follow. Hope to see you there!

10/31/2019

Happy Halloween, Fungal Fans!

Here's my creepiest fungal sighting: thousands of the beautiful purple Laccaria masoniae, fruiting around and through a deer skeleton on North Island New Zealand.

Shot (the photo, not the deer) in 2018.

Can you top it with your own creepy fungal photo?

10/08/2019

Hello California Mushroom Hunters!

I received this message today from Dr. Tom Brun's UC student Saumitra Kelkar. He is looking for well documented collections of CA candy cap-like Lactarius species in subgenus Russularia. He is aware that these are found later in the season, but wants to get the word out now. For MO users, I did mention that some of us prefer to use that site over iNat for posting observations, for oh so many reasons.

Here's his message:

Hello,

I'm a fourth-year student at UC Berkeley studying forestry, and I'm doing my undergraduate honors thesis on the diversity and phylogeny of Lactarius subgenus Russularia in California.

According to Methven's 1997 chapter on Lactarius in "Agaricales of California," there are 16 species in Lactarius subg. Russularia known to occur in California. Of these, only the candy caps, Lactarius rubidus and rufulus, are well-represented in GenBank from samples collected in California. The goals of my project are to determine which of the 16 species in this subgenus that are reported to occur in California actually occur in California, whether mushrooms in this subgenus in California are truly members of the species they key out to, and how members of Lactarius subg. Russularia in California relate to each other.

This project will require more sampling than I can expect to do on my own in one season. To complete this project, I'll need help collecting mushrooms and recording morphological features in fresh specimens.

Lactarius subg. Russularia is characterized by small, orange to reddish-brown basidiomes that do not stain green, are not hairy, and have white to whey-like latex.

If you find some mushrooms in Lactarius subgenus Russularia you'd like to donate to the cause, please do the following:
1) Post photos to iNaturalist that clearly show the top of the cap, the gills and underside of the cap, and the entire mushroom, including the base. Please include in the photos something of a standard size (like a coin, or better yet, a ruler) for scale. Include in your post the location, date, and habitat details (ecosystem type, dominant plants/trees).
2) Record the following characteristics of the mushroom: size (cap diameter, stipe width and length), color changes when damaged, texture, latex color when freshly exuded, latex color on white paper
2) Dry the samples
3) E-mail me at [email protected] and I'll give you my shipping address. I can reimburse you for shipping expenses.

To this e-mail, I've attached the sections of Methven's chapter in "Agaricales of California" that include the key to subgenera of Lactarius and species descriptions of Lactarius subg. Russularia.

You can email me at [email protected] or message me on facebook if you have any questions. I'm quite new to mycology, so if there's anything you think I should know, please don't hesitate to tell me about it!

Thanks in advance!

Cheers, and happy mushroom hunting!

Saumitra Kelkar

Here is a list of Lactarius species of interest:

Subgenus Russularia

Section Pseudo-Aurantiaci
L. substriatus
L. subviscidus

Section Russularia
L. atrobadius
L. desjardinii
L. luculentus var. laetus
L. riparius
L. rujus
L. subflammeus

Section Subsquamulosi
L. alpinus var. mitis

Section Thejogali
L. occidentalis
L. rubidus
L. rufidus
L. thiersii

Section Triviales
L. cocoseolens
L. hysginus var. americanus
L. manzanitae