The Mushroom Hour Podcast

Today on Mushroom Hour we are graced by the presence of mycologist and musician Andy Overall. Andy has had a fascinating journey from the Blue Zoo and pop stardom back through the hedges and woodlands when he became interested in mushrooms back in the early 1990’s. He realized he needed something else, another interest other than his involvement with music. Growing up as a boy during the 60’s in the English, market town countryside, of Braintree, Essex he nurtured an interest in nature…And then along came David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and everything changed course for a while! Later in life his rekindled interest in fungi evolved into obsession as he began to see an infinite variety of fungal species appearing before him and he wanted to get to know them all. Since his obsession began, Andy has published magazines, countless articles and in 2017 his first book all about fungi -  “FUNGI-Mushrooms & Toadstools of Parks, Gardens, Heaths and Woodlands”. He is the fungi recorder for the London Natural History Society and a Group Leader in the London Fungus Group. I’m excited to learn about the mycological journey of a culture creator, artist and naturalist and his explorations into what he so poetically dubs, “the jewels in nature’s crown”   TOPICS COVERED:   From Wilderness to Ziggy Stardust   Birth of Blue Zoo   Shifting from Pop Stardom to Mycology   Evolution of the Amateur Mycology Community   Professional Surveying for Fungi    Insights from Biodiversity Databases   Making Better Decisions About Forest Management   Role of DNA in Fungal Surveys   Heathrow Airport Cortinarius    Contributions of Amateur Naturalists   Tips to Making Better Observations   Process of Mushroom Spotting & Identification    Ethnomycology Travels in Oaxaca, Czech Republic, Australia   Published and Unpublished Works of Gaston Guzman   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Andy Overall Website: http://www.fungitobewith.org/   London Fungi Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/LondonFungusNetwork/   British Mycological Society: https://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/   Blue Zoo Website: http://www.bluezoo.org.uk/   Roger Phillips (Legend): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Phillips_(photographer)   Marcel Bon (Mycologist): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Bon   Mark Spencer (Botanist): https://markspencerbotanist.com/   GIGL: https://www.gigl.org.uk/londons-open-spaces/   Cortinarius heatherae (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_heatherae   Laetiporus sulphureus (AKA Chicken of the Woods): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus_sulphureus

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of being joined by Dr. Kevin Boyce, Professor of Geological Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Boyce's research is focused on the biological and environmental impacts of the evolution of plant structure, development, and physiology from the Paleozoic colonization of land through the subsequent radiations of land plant forms up to and including the Cretaceous radiation of flowering plants. This work involves both living and fossil plants and a wide variety of approaches: developmental and physiological investigation, climate modeling, comparative study of morphological diversity, and cell and tissue-specific analysis of elemental, isotopic, and organic chemistry. These tools have been applied to three connected areas of research that each inform wider questions concerning the evolution of terrestrial environments: 1. the evolution of leaf morphology, development, and physiology with feedbacks to climate and primary productivity, 2. the evolution of cell wall biochemistry and its influence on organic matter burial as a sink in the carbon cycle, and 3. the establishment of early terrestrial life and ecosystems encompassing the complete biota including animals, fungi, and microbial communities in addition to the plants. I’m excited to learn about the coevolution of plants and fungi, prototaxites and how we learn about organismal evolution and community assembly from the ancient past.    TOPICS COVERED:   The Path into PaleontologyGeobiology & Defining Geological Eras   Fungal & Plant Fossil Records   Absolute Time & Relative Time   Evolution of Plant Physiology   Coevolution of Plants, Bacteria, Fungi and Animals   Stochastic "Rules" of Community Assembly   Geochemistry   Genetic Tools and Phylogeny Changing Paleontology   Prototaxites   Biochemical Signatures of Heretrophs and Autotrophs   Piecing Together a Paleozoic Landscape    Lifestyle, Physiology and Growth Rate of Prototaxites   Future Work into the Cenozoic   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Dr. Kevin Boyce Academic Website: https://biology.stanford.edu/people/kevin-boyce   Dr. Boyce Paper on Prototaxites: https://awarticles.s3.amazonaws.com/Boyce2007.pdf   Prototaxites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites   Geologic Time Scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geologic_time_scale   "Wonderful Life" by Stephen Gould: https://wwnorton.com/books/Wonderful-Life/   Lycopodium (clubmoss genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopodium   "Stinkhorn" Mushrooms: https://www.mushroomexpert.com/stinkhorns.html   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are graced by the presence of one of my favorite biophiliacs and artists -Jon Ching. Jon grew up steeped in natural beauty on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, which formed the foundation of his deep fascination with the natural and wild world.  A self-taught painter, Jon’s devoted art practice and detailed realism is inspired by the interconnectedness of nature.  While dedicated to the minute idiosyncrasies of flora and fauna, Jon’s work is a surreal imagining of what limitless wonders and combinations nature can produce.  New creatures and symbioses emerge in his meticulously rendered oil paintings, exemplifying the endless potential of life on Earth.  His work is often driven by his personal desire to find balance between the human and natural worlds, exploring themes of symbiosis and searching for connections, physical and metaphorical, across nature’s kingdoms. Highlighting man-made threats to the natural world are a regular theme in his work to raise awareness of and evoke compassion for the kingdoms of life. Jon’s ultimate hope is to inspire love and admiration for the universally unique beauty and intrigue of our world.   TOPICS COVERED:   Childhood in Hawaii as Inspiration   Unlocking Biological Imagination   Powers of Observation   Impact of Becoming a Father   Slowing Down   Communicating Ecological Messages Through Artwork   Fungi Finding Their Way onto the Canvas   Navigating the Professional Art World   Gallery Shows   Materials, Process and Timeline of Creating Paintings    From Paintings to Murals   Future Projects   WTF NFTs   Finding Equilibrium with Natural Systems   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Jon Ching Website: https://jonchingart.com/   Jon Ching IG: https://www.instagram.com/jonchingart/   Jon Ching FB: https://www.facebook.com/JonChingArt   Jon Ching @ Beinart Gallery: https://beinart.org/collections/jon-ching   Hericium erinaceus (AKA Lions Mane): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hericium_erinaceus 

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of interviewing Professor Vera Meyer from the Technical University of Berlin. Professor Meyer’s career has seen her as a visiting scientist to the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London (2003) and to the department of Fungal Genetics and Metabolomics at Leiden University in the Netherlands (2005 - 2006). In 2008, Professor Meyer was appointed assistant professor for Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology at Leiden University, a position she held for three years. Since 2011, she has been professor at the Institute of Biotechnology and head of its department for Applied and Molecular Microbiology at the Technical University of Berlin. Her scientific work in the field of fungal biotechnology has been published in more than 100 publications. Vera also works as a visual artist, using the pseudonym V. meer. She puts a strong emphasis on sculpting and creating objects from chance finds like forest mushrooms, decaying wood and scrap metal. Inspired by her scientific work with fungi in microbiology, she combines these materials in the sense of a found object. Through her artwork, she wants to enhance the awareness for fungi and their potential in biotechnology and for a sustainable bioeconomy in general.   TOPICS COVERED:    Childhood Fascination with the Invisible   Fungal Biotechnology   Seeing Fungi as Friends and as Foes   Importance of Multi-Disciplinary Approach    Open Science Movement   Aspergillus niger, Citric Acid and the Origins of Modern Biotechnology    Primary and Secondary MetabolismModulating Metabolic Processes of Aspergillus in Making Products   Synthetic Biology   BioReactor Cultivation & Ecology of a BioReactor   Mycelium Materials   Building a Mycelium Materials Database   Transdisciplinary Collaboration   Reconciling Biotechnology with Conservation and the Precautionary Principle   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Vera Meyer Academic Page @ TU Berlin: https://www.tu.berlin/en/vcard/vera.meyer   Vera Meyer Art (V.Meer): https://www.v-meer.de/   Vera Meyer IG: https://instagram.com/v.meer_/   Art Lab Berlin: https://artlaboratory-berlin.org/de/forschung/mind-the-fungi/   TU Berlin - Natural Building Lab: https://www.nbl.berlin/   "Beauty of the Morbid" Article: https://fungalbiolbiotech.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40694-016-0028-4   Aspergillus niger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_niger   Fomes fomentarius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomes_fomentarius   Macrolepiota procera (AKA Parasol Mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrolepiota_procera   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are excited to chat with Connie Green founder of Wine Forest Foods and author of “The Wild Table”. Since 1979, Connie has been providing chefs like Thomas Keller, Cory Lee, Michael Mina, Traci de Jardins and many more with mushrooms of unparalleled quality. As one of the very first pioneers in the American wild mushroom business, Connie has filled a key role in educating chefs and the public about the wild foods now so widely loved in American cuisine. Over the decades, she has cultivated a network of great mushroom pickers has been woven across the West, Canada, Alaska, Mexico, and even Europe. Hand and hand with this wild life with wild mushrooms is a love and respect for the forest ecosystem from which the mushrooms flow. Connie has always preached principles of sustainability in harvesting and hopes that, in her own words, “commercial mushroom hunting can give a living back to loggers and make our forests economically more valuable in the long term left standing than converted to board feet of lumber”. What a privilege to speak with a culture creator and pioneer in wild mushroom harvesting.    TOPICS COVERED:   Fields of Chanterelles & Beginning of Commercial Foraging   Putting in the Miles in the Forest   Scouting Habitat and Making Good Observations   Northern California Chanterelle Habitat   Ukiah, Oregon - The Town Morels Built    Fire & Ecological Transformation in Northern California   Tan Oak Destruction    Economic Value of Forest Fungal Productivity vs Board Feet of Lumber   Regional Fiefdoms of National Forest service    Symbiosis of Amateur and Professional Foragers   Foraging Sustainably, Cultivating Forage Grounds   Commercial Foraging Networks   Wild Food Regulation   Advice to Enter the Business of Wild Foods   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Wine Forest website: https://wineforest.com/   "The Wild Table": https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Table-Seasonal-Foraged-Recipes/dp/0670022268   Ukiah, Oregon: http://www.cityofukiahoregon.com/history.html   Cantherellus californicus (AKA California Golden Chanterelle): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantharellus_californicus   Notholithocarpus densiflorus (AKA Tan Oak): https://calscape.org/Notholithocarpus-densiflorus-()Morchella tomentosa (AKA Gray Morel): http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morchella_tomentosa.html   Craterellus tubaeformis (AKA Yellowfoot Chanterelle): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craterellus_tubaeformis   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are joined by the distinguished and prolific George Poinar, Jr. PhD. George received his Ph.D. in biology from Cornell University and spent most of his career in the Department of Entomology at the University of California at Berkeley before moving to Oregon State University, where he is a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology. His interest in the tropics, along with a passion for paleontology, culminated in the book The Amber Forest, co-authored with his wife, Roberta, and published by Princeton University Press. He is also the author of other books, including Life in Amber. In addition, he is a founder of The Amber Institute. He is a pioneer when it comes to studying associations between invertebrates and other organisms in amber. One of his projects was recently all over the news as he discovered a new genus and species of fungal entomoparasite growing out of a fossilized ant – the older mushroom growing from an ant that has ever been found!   TOPICS COVERED:   Young Naturalist Inspired by Walden and Thoreau   Entering Entomology   Research Tours through Southeast AsiaInsect Vectors of Disease-Carrying Parasites in Africa   Insect Diseases in Russia   Pivoting to Vertebrate Parasites in France, Germany & Holland   Ancient History of Insect Pathogens and Their Parasites   The Basics of Amber Preservation   Preparing and Cutting Amber for Examination   Determining the Age of Specimens in Amber   Phylogeny and Ancestry in Family CordycipitaceaeExtracting Genetic Information from Amber Specimens   Meeting Michael Creighton and Jurassic Park Inspirations   Evolutionary Insights from Ancient to Modern Fungi   EPISODE RESOURCES:George Poinar Jr PhD: https://science.oregonstate.edu/directory/george-o-poinar-jr   Family Cordycipitaceae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordycipitaceae   Richard Korf (Inspiration): https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/28593   Rhinoceros Beetles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynastinae   "Laboratory Guide to Insect Pathogens and Parasites": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4288060-laboratory-guide-to-insect-pathogens-and-parasites   Hermitage Museum (Russia): https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/   Hymenaea (Tree Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenaea   Paleoclaviceps parasiticus (fungus): https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=310964   Allocordyceps baltica (fungus): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1878614621000799   

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of being joined by the University of Victoria Emeritus Professor, Nancy Turner. Professor Turner is an ethnobotanist whose research integrates the fields of botany and ecology with anthropology, geography and linguistics, among others. She is interested in the traditional knowledge systems and traditional land and resource management systems of Indigenous Peoples, particularly in western Canada.Nancy has worked with First Nations elders and cultural specialists in northwestern North America for over 50 years, collaborating with Indigenous communities to help document, retain and promote their traditional knowledge of plants and habitats, including Indigenous foods, materials and medicines, as well as language and vocabulary relating to plants and environments. Her interests also include the roles of plants and animals in narratives, ceremonies, language and belief systems. Dr. Turner has authored, edited, co-authored or co-edited over 30 books. Her 2014 two-volume book, Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America , represents an integration of her long-term research. She has received a number of awards for her work, including membership in Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada, honorary degrees from Vancouver Island University, University of British Columbia, University of Northern British Columbia and Simon Fraser University; and the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Canada Prize in the Social Sciences for Ancient Pathways.   TOPICS COVERED:   From Berkeley to Missoula to Vancouver   Kincentricity   Epistemologies & Living Language    Traditional Ecological Knowledge   Respecting our Non-Human Relatives   Residential Schools & the Suppression of Indigenous Ways   Traditional Territories & Living Traditions   First Nation Agroforestry Practices   Cottonwood Mushrooms & Hazlenuts   Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights & Title   Models of First Nation Land Access   Blending Western Scientific Knowledge & First Nation Knowledge Systems   7 Generation Thinking   Society Suffused by Ecological Thinking   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Prof. Nancy Turner website: https://www.uvic.ca/socialsciences/environmental/people/faculty/emeritus/turnernancy.php   "Plants, People and Places" (book): https://www.mqup.ca/plants--people--and-places-products-9780228001836.php   "Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge" (book): https://www.mqup.ca/ancient-pathways--ancestral-knowledge-products-9780773543805.php   Tricholoma populinum (fungus): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237163157_The_cottonwood_mushroom_Tricholoma_populinum_A_food_resource_of_the_Interior_Salish_Indian_peoples_of_British_Columbia   

Today on Mushroom Hour we are host to the distinguished Dr. Kabir Peay – head of Stanford University’s Peay Lab. Dr. Peay completed a master’s degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environment Science (F&ES) in 2003 and obtained a PhD in 2008 from UC Berkeley’s Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM) in Matteo Garbelotto's lab. He completed postdoctoral training at UC Berkeley in the Dept. of Plant & Microbial Biology with Tom Bruns, and at Stanford in the Dept. of Biology with Tadashi Fukami. He was an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Plant Pathology at the University of Minnesota from 2011-2012 before coming to Stanford in 2012 to join the Dept. of Biology in his current position. The Peay lab studies the ecological processes that structure natural communities and the links between community structure and the cycling of nutrients and energy through ecosystems - focusing on fungi! Much of the research focuses on plant-fungal root associations, better known as mycorrhizas, which constitute one of the most pervasive mutualisms in terrestrial ecosystems. By integrating their lines of research, they hope to weave together a 'roots-to-biomes' understanding of plant-microbe symbiosis.   TOPICS COVERED:   A Love of Nature, Inspiration in the East   From Environmental Consulting into Ecological Understanding   Discovering Fungal Symbioses   Defining Ecology & Community Assembly   Understanding Scale in Community Ecology    Embracing Fungi in All of Their Ecological Roles   Facultative Capacities of Fungi   Mycorrhizal Lessons in Community Ecology    Broadening Ecological Perspectives Beyond Purely Competitive Frameworks   MISSPs & Mediating Mycorrhizal Interactions   Fungal Biogeography   Ecological Succession & Stages of Community Assembly   Future of Mycorrhizal Research   Mapping Fungal Genes to Ecological Functions   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Peay Lab Academic Website: https://mykophile.stanford.edu/   Dr. Peay Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=E6GRsP4AAAAJ&hl=en   Dipterocarpaceae - tree family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipterocarpaceae   Chytrids: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chytridiomycota   Pinus ponderosa (tree species): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_ponderosa   Suilllus pungens (fungus species): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suillus_pungens    

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the honor of being joined by Elan Hagens. Elan Hagens is a native Oregonian who has been playing in the woods, wildcrafting and going to outdoor education classes her entire life.  Her passion for everything animals and the outdoors led her to working with dogs in in her early 20s. Following that path landed her an opportunity to participate in a dog based reality show on CBS! Later work at an Iditarod sled dog kennel and training her dogs how to forage for native Oregon truffles further deepened her love for everything outdoors and led to her creating Temptress Truffles a decade ago.  Temptress Truffles is all about wild foraging, wildcrafting and connecting people to the outdoors. Elan loves watching people learn how to engage with nature in different ways besides technical outdoor sports and activities. She teaches classes in mushroom foraging, food Justice and nature crafting. In January 2021 she cofounded a new business called Fruiting Bodies Collective. Through an excellent podcast show, a growing facilitator training program and other projects, the Fruiting Bodies Collective hopes to destigmatize psychedelics and serve marginalized groups. All of Elan’s projects seem to stem from a deep-rooted passion for sharing her lifelong love of everything outdoors and helping everyone, no matter their background, to appreciate the natural environment as she does.   TOPICS COVERED:   Nature-Loving Tagalong with a Mother Who Loves Fresh Food   Becoming a Reality TV Star   Intentional Choices of Sponsors and Partnerships   Truffle Fundamentals   The Secret to Truffle Hunting - Habitat    “Raked Truffles” vs Dog-Found Truffles   Running a Foraged-Goods Business    Indigenous Land Acknowledgement   BIPOC Representation in the Outdoors   Mycological Elitism   Harvesting Wild Clay, Building Community   Fruiting Bodies Collective    Engaging and Educating as Psilocybin Emerges into the Mainstream   Black and Indigenous Representation in Psychedelic Spaces   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Temptress Truffles IG: https://www.instagram.com/temptresstruffles/   Fruiting Bodies Collective IG: https://www.instagram.com/fruitingbodiesco/   Danner - Elan Hagens: https://vimeo.com/551545643   Sparassis crispa (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparassis_crispa   

Today on the Mushroom Hour we are honored to be joined by Dr. Andrew Wilson - Assistant Curator of Mycology in the Sam Mitchel Herbarium of Fungi at Denver Botanic Gardens. For Dr. Wilson the discovery of mycology began back in the late 90’s at San Francisco State University in taking classes from world renown mushroom taxonomist, Dr. Dennis Desjardin. Working with Dennis, Andrew earned a Masters degree studying the mushroom genus Gymnopus from Java and Bali. He later went on to earn a PhD in the lab of Dr. David Hibbett at Clark University. His project took him back to Southeast Asia, this time to study the ecology and evolution enigmatic puffball genus Calostoma and their relatives. In 2009, Andrew graduated and began a postdoc with Dr. Gregory Mueller at the Chicago Botanic Garden where he explored the systematic evolution of the Cantharellales and the model ectomycorrhizal mushroom genus Laccaria. He also did a one-year postdoc at Purdue University, in the lab of Dr. Cathie Aime, teasing apart the complex evolution of plant pathogenic rust fungi. At Denver Botanic Gardens, Dr. Wilson is working on a regional contribution to the Fungal Diversity Survey (FunDiS) that encompasses the state of Colorado, with a focus on the Southern Rockies. In this effort he is training students on how to study biodiversity using natural history collection and DNA sequence analysis. He is also working on new tools in DNA sequencing to better sample and study fungal diversity.   TOPICS COVERED:   Formed in a Family of Biologists   Intellectual Explorations at San Francisco State University   Genus Gymnopus   Expeditions to Southeast Asia   What are Systematics?   Genus Calostoma   Role of Isotopes in Understanding Fungal Ecologies   Biogeographic Histories of Fungi   Interpreting Ancestry and Evolution in Phylogenetic Data    Gondwana Supercontinent   Finding a Living, Ancient Ancestor on the Lacarria Family Tree    Denver Botanic Gardens & Sam Mitchell Fungi Herbarium   New Methods of High-Throughput DNA Sequencing    Biodiversity & Evolutionary History of Southern Rocky Mountain Fungi   EPISODE RESOURCES:   Dr. Andrew Wilson - Denver Botanic Gardens: https://www.botanicgardens.org/team/profile/andrew-w-wilson-phd   Dr. Dennis Desjardin (Mentor): https://biology.sfsu.edu/faculty/desjardin   Dr. David Hibbet (Mentor): https://www2.clarku.edu/faculty/facultybio.cfm?id=355   Gymnopus (Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnopus   Calostoma (Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calostoma   Laccaria (Genus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laccaria   Calostoma cinnabarinum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calostoma_cinnabarinum   Colorado Mycological Society: https://cmsweb.org/   Colorado Mycoflora Project: https://coloradomycoflora.org/