#36: Damon Tighe - Fungi, Mushrooms, and Community Science (Mycology)

Finally - a deep dive into the Fungi Kingdom thanks to Damon Tighe (instagram, iNaturalist)! Damon is a skilled naturalist, photographer, science communicator, and biotech educator. He has a biology and chemistry degree from Saint Mary’s college, and has years of professional experience in genomics and DNA sequencing, including with the Human Genome Project at the National Lab’s Joint Genome Institute.Today, Damon describes the basics of fungi - what they are, and how they reproduce. Damon covers the three primary lifestyles that fungi take on - saprophytic, which like to eat dead stuff, parasitic, and mycorrhizal, where they team up with something else.We discuss fungi and mushrooms that one might encounter, seasonality, how to read the landscape to find mushrooms, and how to identify them. Damon covers some common mushroom myths and whether it is OK to pick mushrooms for ID or general foraging. He also tells us about some fascinating mushroom behaviors, such as how chicken of the woods fruit in anticipation of rain, and the story of the notorious Deathcap mushroom. We wrap up with a discussion of DNA sequencing, which is achievable at home relatively inexpensively, and community scientists are driving new discoveries. FULL SHOW NOTES - check for photos of species discussed today! The chanterelle is must-see! Referenced EpisodesMagic of Lichens - KnudsenAmazing World of Plant Galls - KranzLinksEntangled Life - SheldrakeMushrooms of the Redwood Coast - Siegel and SchwarzAlan RockefellerBarcode the Lake at Lake MerrittCalifornia Center for Natural HistoryHow Many Fungal Spores Do We Breathe In? Source, Source2SOMA CampFungal DNA Barcoding LinksEverymanBioSigrid JakobDamon's overview of DNA sequencingWilliam Padilla-Brown - uses Oxford Nanopore sequencingSupport Us On Patreon!Buy our Merch!Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz MusicLicense (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-licenseArtist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!