Ant and Fungus Symbioses February’s speaker is Yonathan Uriel, who will present "Symboioses Between Ants and Fungi". A Masters student in Biology at SFU, Yonathan focuses his studies on the evolution of insect crop pests. His background is in biochemistry, genetics, and a lifelong interest in being outside and looking at tiny things creeping in the underbrush. He looks forward to sharing his knowledge of fungi from an entomologist's perspective.

"They Grow Without Us" mycelium-based benches by AJFD AFJD uses material exploration and emerging technologies to provoke fundamental questions about our relationship to architecture. This talk will look at AFJD’s recent architectural installations using mushrooms-based materials. Their practice is eclectic and multidimensional, which reflects the changing culture of design and technology. They've been working together for fifteen years, after finishing degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Amber Frid-Jimenez is Associate Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, where she is a Canada Research Chair in Art and Technology. Joe Dahmen is Assistant Professor of Design and Sustainability Integration at the University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and a faculty associate at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.

Paul Kroeger will present on Common Mushrooms. Presentation starts at 7:30pm.  Paul Kroeger has studied mushrooms for over thirty-five years and is a founding member of Vancouver Mycological Society. He is considered a leading expert in field identification of mushrooms of western Canada. Paul has made a special study of “little brown mushrooms” including magic mushrooms and their relatives. He has been involved in many projects and studies about diverse aspects of mushrooms, gaining knowledge about fungal biology and ecology, and biochemistry of toxic, hallucinogenic, medicinal and edible mushrooms. Years of experience create unique insights and understanding of fungal life-ways and interactions in temperate ecosystems.

Eric DeChaine will visit us from Bellingham, Washington to present "The Promises and Pitfalls of Inventorying Fungi in Cascadia".    DeChaine is interested in the evolution and biogeography of arctic-alpine plants and fungi. He studies the effects of historic and future climates on the distribution and diversity of these organisms with the goal of identifying processes underlying speciation and endemism around the North Pacific Rim.

Dr. James Kronstad will present "Fungal threats to human health".  James Kronstad received his PhD in 1984 from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Washington. In 1989, he was recruited by Dr. Michael Smith (a founder of ZymoGenetics) to join the faculty of the Biotechnology Laboratory, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia.  He was promoted to full professor in 1999 and was Director of the Michael Smith Laboratories (previously called the Biotechnology Laboratory) from 2008 to 2017. For the past 30 years, Dr. Kronstad’s research program has focused on understanding mechanisms of pathogenesis for fungi that attack plants and animals.  Recent contributions include collaborations on the genome projects for the cereal pathogen Ustilago maydis, the fungus Malassezia globosa (associated with skin diseases) and five strains of the AIDS-associated pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Members' Night is returning after a brief hiatus in 2017. Instead of a single speaker presenting, we'll have several members giving mini-presentations on a fungal topic they're passionate about. Expect to hear about interesting projects, personal trips into the fungal unknown and maybe even some VMS history! 

Our speaker is the one and only Daniel Winkler, presenting the "Best of Mushroaming", a retrospective on his decade of mushroom hunting and explorations around the world.    When traveling in rugged High Asia (Tibet & Bhutan), his native Alps, tropical South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia & Suriname), as well as wild North America, Daniel is on the hunt for gorgeous choice edibles, potent medicinals, and all kinds of bizarre and colorful fungi from the most minute to massive fruitings. His favorite hounds are rain forests, be it tropical or temperate as well as alpine environments. His favorite fungi (besides all these tasty edibles) are strange Cordyceps, which triggered Daniel’s curiosity in medicinal mushrooms 20 years ago in Tibet. Recently this interest matured into a new field guide “Medicinal Mushrooms of North America” published in cooperation with Robert Rogers.   Daniel is the author of field guides to Edible Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest and California (both Harbour Publishing, 2011 and 2012) and Amazon Mushrooms (2014, co-authored). www.mushroaming.com   This event is free and open to everyone, as are all our regular meetings, although membership purchase is encouraged!

LECTURE DESCRIPTION Beatrix Potter was a woman of many interests and ambitions, however we often come to know only one, her children’s books. Renowned for her fabulous Peter Rabbit storybook illustrations at the turn of the Century, Potter during this period was also involved in mycology and, later in life, land conservancy efforts in Britain.  Join lecturer Spencer W. Stuart as he explores three facets of Potter’s life. Beginning with her extraordinarily successful children’s tales, of which she published twenty-three, he will delve into Potter’s lesser-known involvement with the study of fungi through scientific illustration as well as writing. Now housed in the Armitt Museum in England and Perth Museum in Scotland, these beautifully executed and famously accurate watercolours continue to serve as reference to both amateur and expert mycologists alike. Finally, he will discuss her enduring legacy to the conservation of the historic Lake District of North West England, revealing not only the familiar figure we have all come to know of imagination and fairy tale but also an enthusiastic, down-to-earth Naturalist caught up in the debates of the day. BIO Spencer Stuart holds a master’s degree in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute in London, England (recipient of […]