University of Washington - Seattle Campus, Seattle, WA. 2012/5/10
University of Washington - Seattle Campus, Seattle, WA. 15:50.
Today the UW Fungi project group was fortunate enough to meet up with Joe Ammirati. He is a professional Mycologist at the University of Washington, Seattle campus and was gracious enough to accompany us in a search for fungi. The purpose of the research project is to be able to identify the fungi on campus, catalog them into a website, and educate the public on the fungi themselves, and how they fit into the greater schematic of UW's ecology. Certainly a daunting task, but with Joe's help, it will be much easier.
We met up with him twice today. First with the rest of the class, where we saw a huge amount of Agrocybe praecox everywhere, some mycorrhizal fungi at the UW farm, some Turkey Tails (Trametes versicolor) near the UW farm, Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) on a rotting stump at the UW farm, Hollyhock Rust (Puccinia malvacearum), and several Artist's Conk (Ganoderma applanatum) along Steven's Way.
On our second tour with Joe, we saw very few other fungi. What we did see were more Agrocybe praecox which seemed to be suffering from a lack of moisture, Powdery Mildew (Blumeria) on grass near Denny Hall, another Artist's Conk, a Panther Cap (Amanita pantherina) near Denny Hall coming off of a Douglas Fir (Pseudosuga menziesii) root, and several Violet Cups (Peziza violacea) which were in the woods to the southeast of Drumheller Fountain. We decided that next week we would go to the Union Bay Natural Area to check for other fungi, because we did not find the abundance of fungi that we would need to teach the class new and interesting information that they had not already heard from Joe.
We learned that fungi will still try and perform their basic functions wherever they are, regardless of whether it is in a city or not. Essentially, apart from groundskeeper mowings of grass and human interaction, fungi at the UW play the same role they would elsewhere. That is, they are generally decomposers.
It was very interesting to hear from Joe that there are nearly 100 different species of mushrooming species that can be seen throughout the year, and many more nonfruiting fungi overall. He said that the wood chips that are brought in for garden beds on campus will often be carriers for various spores of exotic fungal species from all over the world. Because of this, you never really know what you will find at the University of Washington.
Species Observed:
Agrocybe praecox
Amanita pantherina
Blumeria
Ganoderma applanatum
Peziza violacea
Pleurotus ostreatus
Puccinia malvacearum
Trametes versicolor
Pseudosuga menziesii
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According to Wikipedia: "Joseph F. Ammirati's 16 research works with 345 citations and 4845 reads, including type studies and fourteen new North American species of Cortinarius". He is a very productive mycologist. He helped me with advice on my University studies, if not for him, I would have to pay for essay papers to some biological scientist or writer (check here; like this one). My research focuses on the diversity and evolution of mushroom-forming fungi. His "Poisonous Mushrooms of the Northern United States and Canada" was really helpful too. You have met him twice personally, I wish I would too.
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