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Fungimap Inc. is a not-for-profit citizen science organisation dedicated to raising the profile of Australia's incredible fungal diversity. Our emphasis is on enjoying and learning about fungi, with a focus on macrofungi in the natural environment.

Fungimap eNews 25 - August 2019

Online maps as prelude to Fungi Down Under 2

One of the features of the Fungimap guide Fungi Down Under is the maps of each included species. In the lead up to the new edition of FDU, interactive test maps have been prepared by August Hao (The University of Melbourne), which can be viewed online. Please have a look at maps of species you are familiar with, and see if there are any dots that look like they are in the wrong place, or if you can fill gaps in the currently known distribution (in which case, please submit records).

See "Putting fungi on the map" for further information and "FDU2 Maps – help needed" for links to all the maps and a feedback form.


Image: Interactive map for Aurantiporus pulcherrimus, showing southern part of distribution in wet forest in Tasmania and Victoria, and also at high altitude in alpine areas of Victoria and New South Wales.

Fungal networks spreading further

 
Alison Pouliot writes: "It was exciting to receive the recent newsletters of the Bendigo Field Naturalists ClubCastlemaine Field Naturalists Club and the Field Naturalists Club of Ballarat and see fungi featuring prominently on the first pages. Field Nats have, of course, always been keenly interested in fungi with fungus articles appearing in the Victorian Naturalist (FNCV) since its first issue in 1885, with Ferdinand von Mueller providing a 'list of fungaceous species . . . giving the specific names of 235'."

Read more of Alison Pouliot's mycelial musings on the Fungimap blog

Image: Fungal mycelium and mycorrhizal symbioses are gradually catching the public imagination. (Alison Pouliot)

Become a Fungimap member today 

Fungimap members are highly valued as citizens committed to Fungimap’s purposes. As with many small citizen science projects, members are the lifeblood of the organisation without whom Fungimap would not exist. Membership benefits include:

  • Belonging to a ‘family’ of citizen scientists interested in learning about, mapping and conserving fungi
  • Keeping informed with news of our work and projects
  • Joining the conversation with advice and suggestions on what we do
  • Tapping into resources like the library, survey and record forms, brochures and handouts for running fungi forays
  • Links to local fungi groups, and assistance in forming new groups.
If you'd like to support Fungimap's work by becoming a member head to the Fungimap website. Not sure if your membership has lapsed? We're sending reminders,  but you're welcome to ask! Call or email us, or jump online and renew here if you've already lapsed. 

Image: Mycena nargan (Paul George CC-BY-SA).

New educational resource – Fungi in a box

Tasmanian educator and artist Heather Elson has created a free downloadable educational fungi resource for anyone wishing to use it. Originally designed as part of the Museum in a Box project,  the printable cards and audio files can be used independently to educate children ages 6-12 about our fungal diversity.  

Learn more about Fungi in a box at Heather's website.

Fungi Events

Funga in Discipline – Sarah Lloyd talks about her “life in slime”

The latest issue of  contemporary art journal Discipline includes three contributions on funga (the fungal analogue of flora and fauna, i.e. the fungi that are found in a region), including ‘Searching for Slime Moulds in Northern Tasmania by Sarah Lloyd’ and ‘Reimagining Fungi—A Foray in the Mycobiome by Alison Pouliot’. Events associated with the launch of the issue include a free public lecture by Sarah Lloyd on ‘My Life in Slime’, dealing with the exquisitely beautiful spore-bearing ‘fruits’ of acellular slime moulds (which are, of course, amoebae rather than fungi).

Sarah will describe her unique study of these unpredictable, ephemeral, miniscule organisms, through daily access to her study site: a tall wet eucalypt forest in central north Tasmania.

Venue: Mueller Hall, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Thursday 22 August, 4:00 pm.

Image: Elaeomyxa cerifera (Photo: Sarah Lloyd. See more beautiful slime mould images at: https://sarahlloydmyxos.wordpress.com/)

Fungi – the Flexible Kingdom

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Senior Mycologist Dr Tom May will be presenting a free public lecture to the Australian & New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) on ‘Fungi – the flexible kingdom’, exploring fungal diversity, nutrition, lifecycles and interactions with other organisms.

Venue: GTAC, in the grounds of University High School, corner Royal Parade and Story Street, Parkville. Wednesday 21 August, 6:30 pm.

In the Fungimap shop:
Fungi Down Under

 

With work on Fungi Down Under 2 continuing, the first Fungimap guide Fungi Down Under features distribution data for Fungimap's original 100 target species. FDU is available now for $35 + $5 shipping in the Fungimap shop.

 
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