There is an August 23, 2017 article in New Scientist about hallucinogenic mushrooms and their insect-repellent properties. The article mentions work done at Ohio State, and the Matheny Lab helped with the research, particularly former grad student Hailee Korotkin (MS 2017).
There’s a similar article in The Atlantic.
EEB’s Brandon Matheny, together with Neale Bougher from the Western Australian Herbarium, authored a book that came out in June 2017 called Fungi of Australia: Inocybaceae. This major revision describes a total of 137 recognized species, of which 101 are new to science! Read the full description from the publisher, below.
The family Inocybaceae are a diverse cosmopolitan group of gilled fungi. Until now, only a small number of species had been described from Australia, but with this major revision a total of 137 species are recognised, of which 101 are new to science. Ninety per cent of these species (121 of the 137) are found only in Australia. Phylogenetic work shows that the family can be divided into seven main groups, of which six are now recorded from Australia, making this country one of the major centres of diversity for the family. They are all thought to be ectomycorrhizal, that is they form mutually beneficial associations with the roots of plants, and are found on soil and amid litter in wet- and dry-sclerophyll shrublands, woodlands and forests, and cool- or warm temperate rainforests. Many are small and easily overlooked, but their diversity of colour and delicate structure make them attractive to those with an eye for detail. This authoritative account provides a major advance in knowledge for this diverse and widespread group, with detailed descriptions, identification keys and phylogenetic trees based on DNA sequences generated during the work. Every species is illustrated with coloured plates and/or line drawings of microscopic features.
Fungi of Australia: Inocybaceae is a useful reference for professional and semi-professional mycologists in Australia and around the world.
Associate Professor Michael Blum joined EEB on August 1. He has been researching rats in New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His research is featured in an August 9 article on The Atlantic’s CityLab website called, “Will Cities Ever Outsmart Rats?“.
The Fall 2017 EEB Seminar Calendar can now be viewed at http://eeb.bio.utk.edu/news-events/current-seminars/. It may take a week for the seminars to appear on the “Upcoming Events” feed at the bottom of the EEB homepage.
EEB Volunteers get Dirty Digging Roots to Help with Invasive Species Research
Christy Leppanen, Dan Simberloff, and Kimberly Sheldon pose in front of a southern Japanese hemlock, Tsuga sieboldii.
In July, a group of EEB faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students, family, and friends helped dig roots as part of a study of belowground communities associated with hemlock trees. Prof. Daniel Simberloff and Christy Leppanen (EEB lecturer and postdoc), are collaborating with Melissa Cregger (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) to characterize microbial communities associated with native and non-native hemlocks. Some of the trees are vulnerable to infestation by the hemlock woolly adelgid, but some appear to be resistant.
Distribution of hemlock species (Tsuga spp., Family: Pinaceae)
The hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae or HWA) is a sap-feeding insect introduced in the 1950s from Asia to eastern North America, where it kills native eastern (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina (T. caroliniana) hemlocks. In Asia and in western North America, HWA feeds on, but does not kill, hemlocks that are native there. Therefore, aspects of communities where HWA is native and trees that are apparently resistant are studied to help understand impacts and develop management approaches where HWA is introduced.
EEB graduate students Chelsea Miller (Kwit Lab) and Angela Chuang (Riechert Lab) collect roots and soil from under an eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.
Simberloff and Leppanen traveled with a group of 14 volunteers to North Carolina State University’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, in Mills River, North Carolina, to collect roots and associated soil from native and non-native hemlocks that are vulnerable or appear resistant to HWA infestation. From these samples, Cregger will characterize microbial communities: archaea, bacteria, and fungi associated with the different trees. The team will then meet to discuss the results and consider implications and next steps.
Kylie Hannahs digs under a southern Japanese hemlock, Tsuga sieboldii, with Chase Steele, EEB undergraduate research assistant in the Fitzpatrick and Simberloff Labs.
Microbial communities influence and can indicate associated host organism health. Microbial diversity and composition can influence large-scale nutrient fluxes across ecosystems. Loss of native hemlocks, or even HWA infestation of living hemlocks, may impact important ecosystem-level processes as a result of losses or changes to associated microbial communities. Additionally, suggested replacement of our native hemlocks with non-native species such as the Chinese hemlock (T. chinensis) may have ecosystem-level implications if microbial communities associated with the Chinese hemlock differ. Microbial communities associated with non-native “replacement” trees may not only prevent the return of native ecosystem dynamics but may also influence our native ecosystems in entirely new and unpredictable ways.
Ruth Simberloff and Frank Scott examine roots under a Himalayan hemlock, Tsuga dumosa.
Fine roots are collected to characterize microbial communities associated with different hemlock species.
T.J. Rogers, SULI Intern working with Melissa Cregger at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and EEB undergraduate researchers Jake Lockyer and Casey Fellhoelter finish work with a Chinese hemlock, Tsuga chinensis. (SULI, Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships)
EEB student workers Damon Christensen and Michael Ellison excavate under an eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis.