Community-based Lobster Acquisition Workforce

To answer my research questions regarding diversity of host and parasite, I will need to be able to reliably determine the identity of both associates. Traditionally, morphological (physical) and chemical traits were used to identify fungal species. However, with the ability to isolate and sequence DNA, scientists now have a much more consistent method of assigning specimens to species. DNA sequences are considered a more reliable means of identifying species for many reasons. For one thing, choosing morphological characters that are a useful diagnostic for defining species (especially fungal species) can be really hard. It's difficult to know whether all members of a species have a trait, or if a trait is shared with other species, so the trait may not be a defining characteristic. There also can be subjectivity in how different people measure the trait. In contrast, a DNA sequence can act as a unique "barcode" hundreds of characters long and is read reliably through...

Mushroom samples should be dried as soon as possible to prevent degradation—food dehydrators and ovens on low heat work fine. Please provide the location where you found the sample, down to GPS coordinates if possible. The more specificity the better! If you’d like to provide more information about the environment (types of trees, disturbed/undisturbed area, etc.) that’d be great but it’s not a necessity. I would also love a picture of what the sample looked like before it was dried. This extra info can be sent along with the sample or emailed to me at kendra.autumn@utah.edu , as long as it’s clear which physical sample is yours. Bonus—if you find unparasitized Russula or Lactarius in the same area, I would hugely appreciate those being sent along as well. Wondering if the mushroom you found is actually a lobster? There are many resources online that can aid in ID, such as mushroomexpert.com, but I’ll take any and all samples resembling lobsters—if you’re not sure, send it...

Here's an excerpt from my graduate student first year exam, where I was asked to complete a brief review of the literature to provide background for my project proposal. Technical language is used, so I'll define some terms beforehand: mycoparasite = a fungus which parasitizes other fungi basidiomycete = a fungus belonging to Phylum Basidiomycota, a large evolutionary group of fungi containing most "mushrooms" sporocarp = fruiting body (the actual "mushroom" seen aboveground) taxa = groups of organisms (singular is "taxon") entomopathogen = an organism which parasitizes insects (often meant to refer to arthropods in general) ectomycorrhizal = a fungus exhibiting a mutually beneficial association with tree roots mycelium = the underground network of thin cells called "hyphae" which comprise the fungal organism anamorph = the asexual part of a fungal lifecycle, often mistaken for a completely different organism than the teleomorph ...

In the summer of 2014, I had just graduated from high school and was working for the summer at Camp Cooper, a Boy Scout camp close to Willamina, Oregon. It's an incredibly lush temperate rainforest area crammed full of mosses, ferns (sword, bracken, and deer), red huckleberry, salal, Douglas fir, false Solomon's seal, and all sorts of other recurring PNW characters. I even saw some Indian pipe ( Monotropa uniflora ), an achlorophyllous (lacking chlorophyll) plant which receives its carbon from fungal mycelia belowground. Indian pipe is traditionally believed to be a parasite on fungi, but sometimes the dynamics of these types of associations can be difficult to pin down--we're not yet fluent in the language in which many fungal associations are conducted. At the end of the summer, all the campers were gone and it was up to the staff to clean up the many campsites nestled among the thick vegetation. I was scanning a particular campsite for trash when I noticed something br...

Hello, and welcome to the Community-based Lobster Acquisition Workforce (C.L.A.W.)! This is a project I’m conducting with the hope of learning more about the biology of lobster mushrooms. I’m an Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology PhD student in a mycology lab at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City (incidentally, no lobster specimens have been recorded from the state of Utah, although the common host Russula brevipes occurs here). My interest in fungi actually started with lichens while I was an undergrad, and has expanded to include all sorts of fungal phenomena. I’m especially interested in insect-fungus interactions, as well as mycoparasitism (fungi parasitizing other fungi). At this point, I’m still at the beginning of my graduate work and exploring several different possible directions for the research that will become my thesis, as well as learning a lot about mushrooms!             “Lobster mushro...