LAMS is a non-profit group whose
purpose
is to foster and expand the understanding and appreciation of mycology
(that
is the study of mushrooms and fungi).
We create and sponsor fun mushroom related events and help people learn about and identify mushrooms they find in the
greater Los
Angeles area.
May
20 (Monday) 7:30 PM LAMS General Meeting
Directions
to the meeting are here.
Speaker: Todd
Osmundson, University of California, Berkeley
Program:
"Burn
Morels in the Age of DNA"
In
western U.S. conifer forests, morel mushrooms are often produced most
dependably and prolifically in the year following moderate-intensity
forest fires. However, little is known about the detailed ecology of
these "burn morels." Morels are notoriously variable in
appearance, leading to uncertainty in determining how many species there
are and where (and when) different species can be found.
Recent studies using DNA sequence data have shed light on the
diversity of morel species.
I
will describe recent studies that I and collaborators have performed
using DNA obtained from burn morels throughout much of the western
United States. The goal of these studies was to better understand which
morel species occur following fire, whether these species also occur in
unburned ("natural") forests, and whether distinctions used by
commercial harvesters ("grays," "greens,"
"pinks," etc.) correspond to species recognized by genetic
studies. I will also use this work to discuss the science of classifying
organisms and the relevance of both morphological and molecular
information for mushroom classification.
Todd Osmundson Morels (dark dots on ground) in a burn in the central Sierra Nevada, 2010
More information about LAMS events including a
biography of the speaker is available on the
Calendar page.
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