FUNDIS October 2023 Newsletter
Reminder: Free DNA Sequencing via FUNDIS Local Projects
FUNDIS is opening up DNA sequencing again for our Local Projects thanks to a partnership with Stephen Russell and his non-profit research lab, Mycota. Only FUNDIS Local Projects are eligible, so in order to send specimens for DNA sequencing you must either join or start a FUNDIS Local Project. If you have already done this, fantastic! If not, join or start your own FUNDIS Local Project at fundis.org > Get Started > Join a Project. You will also need to create an associated iNaturalist or Mushroom Observer project, and all collections submitted for DNA sequencing must be documented.
Take high quality photos of your mushroom specimens when you find them in the field. To submit your collections to be sequenced they must be uploaded to iNaturalist. Specimens must be sent as a single shipment, before January 1, 2024. For more detailed instructions on sending samples for DNA Sequencing via FUNDIS Local Projects please visit fundis.org/sequence/2023
Happy Hunting!
FUNDIS Welcomes Newest Board Member
This month FUNDIS has welcomed our newest Board Member, Dr. Patricia Kaishian, to the organization. Our Director Gabriela invited Patricia to write a letter introducing herself to our audience, and she composed the following:
"My name is Dr. Patricia Kaishian, and I am excited to join the FUNDIS board! Recently, I was appointed as the Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum (NYSM) where I oversee a large collection of fungi, including the historic Charles H. Peck Collection. I am a mycologist with systematic research expertise on the Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota), Rust fungi (Puccinales), and broad fungal biodiversity of New York state.
I joined the FUNDIS board because I am passionate about fungal conservation. While the explosion of interest in mycology is exciting, I do not think it is meaningful until or unless it translates into measurable protections for fungi and their habitats. I think FUNDiS can serve as a liaison between academic scientists and community scientists to help refine the purpose of collecting, and channel new membership energy from mycological societies into targeted goals. I am excited about developing a partnership between FUNDIS and NYSM. In this capacity I intend to develop New York monitoring programs as well as open the NYSM collection for specimen deposition."
We appreciate Patricia's willingness to forge a collaboration between FUNDIS and NYSM, and her passion to help translate our work into measurable progress in conservation and environmental protections.
Northeast Rare Fungi Challenge Update
Join us in celebrating Year 2 of the Northeast Rare Fungi Challenge!
This Challenge supports the identification of potentially rare or threatened fungi in Northeastern North America, from the mid-Atlantic to Canada. The NE Rare Fungi Challenge started in July 2022 and runs through November 2027. Consider printing or downloading the Challenge booklet below. If you think you've found a Challenge species, follow the steps in the booklet. Fungi, along with their often fragile and threatened habitats, need our protection. But unlike plants or animals, fungi lack legal protections and rarely get considered for conservation. Of the 142,500 species assessed for the IUCN Red List of threatened species only 550 (0.3%) are fungi.
10 Year Old Makes Important Discovery
Silas Claypool, a 10-year-old from Barrington, Rhode Island, frequently rides his bike on the East Bay bike path with his father, Rick Claypool. During one of their rides in early September, Silas discovered a rare mushroom called Boletus billieae, commonly known as Billie’s Bolete. According to Silas, he finds lots of mushrooms on the bike path, but he knew this find was something different.
Together with his dad, Silas snapped a few photos and shared the observation on iNaturalist. To their astonishment, experts identified it as one of the 20 species featured in the FUNDIS Northeast Rare Fungi Challenge. This marked the first documented instance of Billie’s Bolete in Rhode Island, a truly fantastic fungal discovery. When I asked Silas about finding a rare mushroom, he said, “Some fungi might not be rare, just overlooked.” These are wise words from such a young person.
Silas is right, Fungi are often overlooked. He says, “People should look where they’re walking so they don’t step on mushrooms.” Fungi are around us everywhere we go. Photographing the mushrooms we encounter can lead to meaningful contributions to ongoing scientific efforts to protect habitats and preserve biodiversity. With the help of people like Silas and his father, we are learning more about fungi and the places they call home.
Billie’s Bolete is a mycorrhizal species — it has a symbiotic relationship with nearby trees. Without these trees, the fungi can not survive, and similarly, the trees depend on their fungal partners. Understanding ecological communities helps assess risk, monitor change, and improve decisions with respect to future land management. The significance of this discovery was so profound that local newspapers and news stations covered the story, helping to spread awareness about the importance of Fungi. Reminding us all that the Fungi WE see matter!
-D. Tempest Thomas, Volunteer for the Northeast Rare Fungi Challenge
West Coast Rare Fungi Challenge Update
Join us in celebrating Year 4 of the West Coast Rare Fungi Challenge!
Arrhenia lobata is one of the Rare 20 on the FUNDIS West Coast Rare Fungi Challenge and last month FUNDIS Volunteer Christin Swearingen sighted and recognized the Lobed Oysterling near College, Alaska while she was monitoring a property for Interior Alaska Land Trust (iNat ID: 183431581). The Arrhenia was growing singularly in a very wet and mossy bog contained in a boreal forest. We are thrilled to report that Christin collected this rare fungus and the Land Trust gave her permission to accession it into a herbarium and send it to FUNDIS Seqencing Lead Harte Singer for DNA barcoding!
Arrhenia lobata, also known as the Lobed Oysterling appears in wetlands situated in arctic and alpine mountain regions. Fruiting from spring through fall, it clearly enjoys its environment as wet as possible, and it can even be found growing submerged under water! The Lobed Oysterling’s method of nutrition is currently unknown, but because of its close relationship with bryophytes, this species may be a parasite on mosses. This is a great example of why it is so important to document your finds! You can help FunDiS document rare species, like the Lobed Oysterling, Arrhenia lobata by uploading your photos to the Fungal Diversity Database on iNaturalist.
Sequencing Update
The sequencing department is flush with specimens coming in from our California FUNDIS project and our 3 Rare Fungi Challenges. Since May, we have done ITS barcode sequencing on nearly 3000 collections from CA FUNDIS alone, and our skilled team of Sequence Validators have reviewed, analyzed, and verified nearly 2,000 of those. These can be seen using a modified URL to our iNaturalist project, or by clicking below
One of the highlights of our CA FUNDIS project has been the incredible diversity of collections representing each of our collector’s unique perspectives. While more than half of sequenced collections fall in the Agaricales (typical gilled mushrooms) we have also sequenced some more exciting collections of smuts, rusts, cankers, insect destroyers and various other odds-and-ends the average forest tourist might overlook. Some of these can be visually stunning and ecologically mesmerizing.
Here are a few to pique your interest:
Puccinia sp. CA04 from one of our most prolific collectors Dean Lyons, analyzed by Sharon Squazzo. Pyrenophora seminiperda from our resident slime mold enthusiast Stu Pickell, analyzed by Scott Ostuni. A miniscule Chaetomium spinosum expertly collected and sampled by ascomycetologist Rudy Diaz and analyzed by Sharon Squazzo. And finally an unearthly insect destroyer Pandora sp. CA01 collected by FUNDIS volunteer and community science legend, Damon Tighe, and analyzed by connoisseur of fungi and jumping spiders alike, Valerie Warhol.
Specimens for the Rare Fungi Challenges have been arriving in a trickle. Notably we have sequenced two suspected Boletus billeae from the Northeast Rare Fungi Challenge. One of them turned out to be a sneaky imposter, Butyriboletus brunneus while the other one was the real deal.
You can keep us busy here in the sequencing department by hunting for your local Rare Fungi Challenge species!
Harte Singer, FUNDIS Sequencing Lead
Califunga T-shirt Contest
To celebrate the second year of California FUNDIS, we are launching a 'Califunga' T-shirt design contest!!! Winner receives a Califunga T-shirt featuring their very own design!
Design requirements: incorporate the word "Califunga". Email your designs to communications@fundis.org with subject "CALIFUNGA CONTEST." Please attach your submission to the email as a high quality .jpeg file, at least 300 dpi. Full submission instructions are at fundis.org/shop/califunga
By entering you are giving FUNDIS the right to use and alter your artwork. Submissions due November 16, 2023.
Anyone can submit a design, people of all ages, from all places in the world are invited!!
We can't wait to see you flex your creativity in support of FUNDIS and California Fungi! Please like and share this post with your mushroom communities!