Join us for our last meeting of the season! The January meeting will feature the awardee of our HBMS Community Education Scholarship, Monika Richardson, presenting “Comparing the Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Communities of three Pinus Species on California's Far North Coast”.
The meeting will be held on Wednesday 1/21 from 7-9pm at HUUF (24 Fellowship Way, Bayside, CA) & streamed via Zoom. We strongly encourage carpooling!
7-7:30: Tea & social time, show and tell, (bring your mugs & mushrooms!), and a free raffle for attendees
7:30-7:45: Zoom begins, club business
7:45-9: Featured speaker
Talk Description:
This master's project investigates the communities of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi associated with three pine species occurring in coastal Humboldt and Mendocino Counties: Bishop pine (Pinus muricata), shore pine (Pinus contorta subsp contorta), and Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). Now in its culmination phase, this research has revealed variation in ECM fungal community composition among the three pine species, and quantified the influences of host species, native range overlap, and geographic distance on the community of ECM fungi present. Additionally, edaphic soils variables across all sites were correlated with patterns in ECM fungal diversity and species richness. From an ecological perspective, this project has identified keystone fungal symbionts that may have not been previously inventoried, and assesses the flexibility of the ECM fungi that participate in symbiotic mutualisms. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are critical components of pinaceous forests, by quantifying the communities of ECM fungi across different pine tree hosts I hope to highlight the importance of biodiversity and the factors influencing the occurrence of fungal symbionts.
Bio:
Monika grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula where she developed a love for the ecosystems of the coastal regions of California. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and has spent 7 years working for various government and nonprofit conservation organizations such as Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Mendocino Land Trust, and Feather River RCD. After years of being obsessed with identifying and looking for mushrooms, Monika decided to enter a master's program at Cal Poly Humboldt in Dr. Terry Henkel's mycology lab to investigate the symbiotic mutualisms between fungi and plants. She is excited to be studying something she finds so fascinating and is happy to be in the beautiful and wet Humboldt county. When not looking for mushrooms, Monika spends her time surfing, co-managing a compost company, and playing music.
Our monthly meetings are free & open to the public. Our speaker series is funded by our Annual Mushroom Fair, which was held last year on 11/23/25 at the Arcata Community Center.
This talk will be streamed via Zoom! Zoom begins at 7:30pm.
Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84351357084?pwd=YHhHQPQ9UOvMf9K9TSTTw98Yya40xq.1
Meeting ID: 843 5135 7084
Passcode: 541623