Mushrooms and the Micronesia Biodiversity Project, May 7

Mushrooms and the Micronesia Biodiversity Project

Explore the mushrooms of the remote Pacific islands. Thomas Jenkinson will highlight recent results from the ongoing project to document the mushroom diversity of the Federated States of Micronesia. Travel to the islands of Pohnpei and Kosrae, in the Micronesia/Polynesia biodiversity conservation hotspot. The habitat these islands provide for unique organisms are under increasing threat. Forest habitats on these islands have been lost at an alarming rate in the last decades. The Micronesia Biodiversity Project incorporates information from surveys of plant, invertebrate and mushroom diversity in investigating the effects of deforestation on these remote islands. This presentation will focus on the new and interesting mushrooms documented over two seasons of field surveys in 2009 and 2010.

Thomas Jenkinson received his M.S. in Biology from San Francisco State University, and is currently Ph.D. student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. Thomas has collaborated on mycology research projects in the U.S. and around the world, and has served as a past council member of the Mycological Society of San Francisco.

See also http://www.illinoismyco.org/node/37

Free parking, and a great way to see a little bit of who we are and what we do. Also, members new and old will learn when and where future IMA forays for wild mushrooms will occur.

If you found a mushroom or other fungus, bring it in and we'll help you identify it. Or if you have any fungus questions, it's a good time to get some answers from some friendly, knowledgeable people.

The meeting, like most of our meetings, will be held at the North Park Village Nature Center, beginning at 7:30 PM.

Meeting Location: North Park Village Nature Center 5801 N. Pulaski, Chicago, IL

The North Park Village Nature Center is located just off the Edens Expressway (I-94). You will exit at Peterson and travel east to Pulaski. Go south (right) on Pulaski until you reach the North Park Village complex which will be on the east (left) side of the street. Once you have entered the complex, follow the signs, bearing left. You will come to a group of buildings surrounding parking lots on the right. The Nature Center is on the left (North) as you enter. It is a small building, with a small sign in front.

WBEZ’s Chicago Amplified partners with Culinary Historians by recording our programs and making them available for broadcast on demand at their website or downloadable to an iPod. Our most recent program:

Mushrooms and the Micronesia Biodiversity Project