The Mushroom Hour Podcast

Today on Mushroom Hour we are graced by the presence of Leah Bendlin AKA Leah Mycelia. For anyone on Instagram or Facebook, you will know Leah for her near-encyclopedic knowledge of wild macrofungi, some of their underappreciated fungal brethren and even their distant cousins, the infamous slime molds.
On our way to visiting her myceliated domain of Portland, OR we make a stop in Leah's home state of Wisconsin to learn a little from Leah's Dad - a biology teacher who was a huge early influence in Leah's exploration of nature. As she explored her own relationship with nature and her quest for more delicious wild things to eat, Leah discovered mushrooms and became obsessed with these enigmatic organisms. Her love of food is still at the core of her mushroom obsession. To date, she has eaten an unbelievable 252 species of mushroom! What are some delicious edibles that we don't even know about?
As she has continued to develop her mycological repetoire, Leah has been able to tap into the extensive fungal community both in-person and online. Whether it's Facebook mushroom identification groups or local mycology clubs we'll feel the mush love and expand our knowledge exponentially. As citizen scientists have increasing access to vast amounts of information, the line between the professional and amateur scientist begins to blur. How do these communities overlap in practicing science and furthering the study of mycology?
Branching out beyond the confines of kingdom fungi, Leah will introduce us to some distant relations that either rely on fungal organisms or resemble them - Mycohetertrophic plants and the infamous Slime Molds! Mycoheterotrophic plants rely on the nutrient-sharing mycorrhizal fungal networks that connect 95% of land plants together. Are these plants strictly parasitic or do they offer some benefit to the fungi? Few people are as passionate about slime molds as Leah and she will demystify these single-celled eukaryotic organisms. Even though many of us associate them with fungi, slime molds evolutionary lineage shows they actually have less in common with fungi than we do! Due to their unique physiology and behavior, slime molds are frequently used in scientific research. What kind of unique clues about non-human learning and brain-free intelligence do slime molds reveal to us?
Episode Resources
Leah Bendlin (IG page): https://www.instagram.com/leah_mycelia/ Disciotis Venosa (mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciotis_venosa
Geopora Cooperi (mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopora_cooperi
Cortinarius Caperatus (mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_caperatus Alden Dirks (Collaborator): https://www.aldendirks.com/
Alison Pollack (Collaborator): https://www.instagram.com/marin_mushrooms/
Sarah Lloyd (Collaborator): https://www.instagram.com/sarah.lloyd.tasmania/
Myxomycetes - A Handbook of Slime Molds (book): https://www.amazon.com/Myxomycetes-Handbook-Steven-L-Stephenson/dp/0881924393

This week on Mushroom Hour we are grateful for the opportunity to speak with our guest Giuliana Furci. Giuliana is founder and president of the Fungi Foundation and has been the greatest advocate for the study and protection of the Fungi Kingdom in recent decades in the country of Chile. She managed to make Chile the first country in the world to include fungi in its environmental impact assessment legislation.
Giuliana's upbringing took her across the Atlantic as her family fled political persecution, but she returned to Chile as a young adult. Already armed with a passion for fungi, Giuliana made a life-changing decision to forgo studying abroad and instead would try to invigorate the mycological tradition in a largely mycophobic nation that did not have any avenues for studying fungi. That brave decision, and her perseverance in her mission to study fungi, has forever changed her country.
After years of self-taught and self-led field mycology work documenting Chile's fungi, Giuliana founded The Fungi Foundation - the first NGO on Earth to be dedicated to promoting the knowledge, appreciation and protection of fungi. The Foundation has now expanded and supports many projects in Chile, but the biggest effort they have undertaken is their work in changing legislation to protect fungi. Giuliana and her team seized an opportunity to change environmental laws and implement a regulatory and enforcement framework that mandates all building projects in Chile must include an analysis of how they will impact local fungi populations, in addition to plants and animals. Chile is now the only country in the world that specifically protects fungi in its environmental legislation. How did they achieve this historical milestone? How does the shift from identifying "flora and fauna" to "flora, fauna and funga" fundamentally change our ecological perspectives as a society?
Leaving the halls of government, we'll try to keep up with Giuliana as she traverses the country for months at a time, hoping to coincide with the appearance of mushrooms. From the Atacama desert to the mountains of the Patagonia, Chile's unique geography makes for an incredible amount of unexplored biodiversity, especially when it comes to fungi! We'll learn to never underestimate the power of an encounter with a fungus and Giuliana will educate us on the proper steps to scientifically document mushrooms we find in the wild.
Thanks for listening and Mush Love!
Directed, Recorded, Produced by: Mushroom Hour
(@welcome_to_mushroom_hour)
Music by: Ancient Baby (https://peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com/)
Art by: Wyn Di Stefano (http://www.wyndistefano.com/)
Episode Resources
Fungi Foundation Website: https://ffungi.org/
Calvatia Family (Mushroom): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvatia
Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Northeastern-United-States-Eastern/dp/1604696346
Mushrooms of California (Book): https://www.amazon.com/California-Mushrooms-Comprehensive-Identification-Guide/dp/1604693533/
Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooms-Redwood-Coast-Comprehensive-California/dp/1607748177/

Today on Mushroom Hour we are honored to be joined by Professor Tom Bruns of the UC Berkeley Dept. of Plant & Microbial Biology. Tom’s primary focus has been fungal ecology, and most of his work in this area has been at the community ecology or autecology levels.
The Professor breaks down some fundamentals about the study of ecosystems before he pushes us into the deep end or exploring one of his most researched subjects and one of the most ecologically relevant organisms on the planet - mycorrhizal fungi. It is impossible to overstate the importance of mycorrhizal networks. Ever since plants came out of the nutrient soup that is the ocean, they have enlisted the aid of fungal allies to survive and gather nutrients from the soil. Between the 2 main types, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi, mycorrhizal fungi connect almost all plants on Earth into their nutrient-exchanging networks. But what are the differences between these groupings of mycorrhizal fungi? What, if any evidence, do we have of their evolutionary history?
Much of Tom's research has focused on the ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi that dominate the temperate forests that many of us are familiar with in the United States. Walking us through the findings of his years of research, it becomes clear that our temperate forests cannot thrive or expand without EM fungi leading the way in colonizing new soil and partnering with new tree seedlings. With loads of EM players involved, and many lacking a big showy mushroom, there is still plenty of mystery when it comes to how mycorrhizal fungi establish themselves and reproduce. We learn about some of the factors that may contribute to successful propagation between different species and quickly come face to face with some of the burning questions when it comes to EM fungi - Why do the most desirable EM fungi like porcini and chanterelle spring up where they do? Is it possible to purposely inoculate trees and cultivate our favorite culinary mushrooms?? Is the ever-mysterious morel mushroom a mycorrhizal fungi?
With the aid of ever-advancing sampling technology, we have a better picture than ever of what is going on in the mycorrhizal realm. Tom's lab has been on the forefront of using these cutting-edge technologies to piece together more and more information. As he continually trains amazing scientists to further the study of mycorrhizal relationships, Tom's own work has shifted to focus on how fungi recolonize areas devastated by wildfires. What role do fungi play in helping ecosystems rebound from fire? We wrap up our conversation learning about an infamous ectomycorrhizal fungi, the amanita phalloides or deathcap mushroom, in the context of cutting-edge research from his grad student Catharine Adams.
Thanks for listening and Mush Love!
Directed, Recorded, Produced by: Mushroom Hour
(@welcome_to_mushroom_hour)
Music by: Ancient Baby (https://peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com/)
Art by: Wyn Di Stefano (http://www.wyndistefano.com/)
Episode Resources
Professor Tom Bruns (profile and research papers): https://plantandmicrobiology.berkeley.edu/profile/bruns
Tomentella Spore Dispersal via Soil Food Webs (paper): https://nature.berkeley.edu/brunslab/papers/lilleskov2005.pdf Catharine Adams (graduate student): https://plantandmicrobiology.berkeley.edu/profile/cadams

Today on Mushroom Hour we are blessed to have the opportunity to interview Daniel Winkler. Daniel has been organizing mushroom focused eco-adventures across the world since 2007. His research on different species of Cordyceps has been featured in The Economist, National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, BBC World Service and more.
Emerging from the deep, Bavarian forests we meet a young Daniel who was foraging steinpilz (boletus edulis) when he was only 3-years-old! His academic studies saw him working on environmental and ecological issues and a sequence of synchronicity found him pursuing this work in Tibet. While he applied his training to benefit Tibetan communities, he soon found himself ensconced by the mysterious and highly-prized Yartsa Gunbu - the Tibetan catepillar fungus. We know this mushroom in the West as Ophiocordyceps Sinesis.
Daniel was one of the first westerners to deeply explore this famous zombie mushroom in the 1990's. Daniel will explain the unique ecology of the Ophiocordyceps Sinesis and why "CS-4", the strain that has been widely used in labs for testing medicinal properties and growing medicinal supplements, is likely not true ophiocordyceps sinesis! His fascinating research focused not only the physiology of the fungus, but also the history and ethnomycological implications of its use in Tibetan and Chinese culture. What profound economic impacts has the collection of Yartsa Gunbu had on the people of Tibet? How has this fungus had a massive influence in the diplomatic relations between Tibet and China for centuries?
Vicarious adventure abounds as we join a MushRoaming ecotour and experience the hunt for Yartsa Gunbu for ourselves. This pursuit of cordyceps then continues into the Amazon where an explosion of tropical biodiversity means we find a vastly more diverse collection of cordyceps species, including many that are unknown to science. What are any applications of these cordyceps species that can be found in the Amazon? Are there medicinal benefits that are yet to be discovered?
Thanks for listening and Mush Love!
Directed, Recorded, Produced by: Mushroom Hour
(@welcome_to_mushroom_hour)
Music by: Ancient Baby (https://peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com/)
Art by: Wyn Di Stefano (http://www.wyndistefano.com/)
Episode Resources
MushRoaming website: http://mushroaming.com/
Yartsa Gunbu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_sinensis

Today we are graced by the presence of Dr. Roo Vandegrift - queer scientist, illustrator and producer of the forthcoming documentary film Marrow of the Mountain. Roo received his doctorate in mycology from the University of Oregon’s Institute of Ecology and Evolution, doing much of his dissertation work on the ecology of fungi at Los Cedros, in Ecuador.
Please support Roo's documentary "Marrow of the Mountain":
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/werdnus/marrow-of-the-mountain-the-covid-emergency-fundraiser?ref=discovery&term=marrow%20of%20the%20mountain
Help their team bring international attention to the threat posed by international mining companies to biodiversity and environmental health in Ecuador!
Getting lost in the jungles of Ecuador, we find Roo Vandergrift crawling through the undergrowth of the Los Cedros bio-reserve performing fungal diversity surveys. Originally studying the genus xylaria, Roo quickly fell in love with Los Cedros and his relationship with this vibrant and powerful land would change his life forever.
Multinational mining companies have bought the rights to huge swaths of the country, leaving Ecuador’s most sensitive and biodiverse habitats at the mercy of international mining interests. This happened suddenly, and without public knowledge or consent. We witness the deep impact of extractive industry on Ecuadorian lives, as three women struggle to protect their families and communities whilst the land is being sold out from under their feet. Told in the powerful voices of Afro-Ecuadorian farmer Isabel Anangonó, indigenous leader Filomena Rosero, and scientist and activist Elisa Levy, and following a scientific expedition into the heart of the rainforest, this film explores the impact of mining on people's lives with both beauty and stark candor. How did the International Monetary Fund set in motion circumstances that would clear a path for giant Australian and Canadian mining corporations to gain access to mining territories, even in areas protected by environmental legislation? How is a pending Constitutional Court Case ruling pivotal in the future of protecting Ecuador's biodiversity from destructive mining?
Due to the COVID-19 lockdowns all people, including activists, have been forced inside. This has allowed international mining companies to continue their illegal mining and environmental destruction without any resistance. These same lockdowns have also meant that the documentary has been set back. So the Marrow of the Mountain team needs all of our support on their new Kickstarter! Empower this documentary activism and help defend biodiversity.
Episode Resources
Marrow of the Mountain Documentary Website: https://marrowofthemountain.com/
Roo Vandergrift IG: https://www.instagram.com/werdnus_roo/
Reserva Los Cedros: https://reservaloscedros.org/
OMASNE: https://www.facebook.com/OMASNE/
Spatial Ecology of the Fungal Genus Xylaria in Cloud Forests (article): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/btp.12273