BAMS Monthly Meeting
Rick Kerrigan: Megastorms, California, and You
1002 Valley Life Sciences Building, UC Berkeley
Thursday, November 14 | 7:30 - 9:30 pm
R. W. Kerrigan is a California native, with family roots here going back to 1850. He had public safety responsibilities in several California State Parks for 8 years, followed by a B.A. and M.A. (in Biology) from SFSU and a Ph.D. in fungal genetics from U.C. Santa Barbara, then a postdoc at U. Toronto, part of a span of 45 years as a researcher and educator in the life sciences. If you buy brown button or portabella mushrooms in the grocery store, there’s a very good chance they were developed by his research team over many years at a commercial spawn lab in Pennsylvania. His 2016 book from the New York Botanical Garden, Agaricus of North America, weighs 7 pounds and works well as a doorstop in normal weather. He’s responsible for a small pile of patents and research papers.
Personal experience of recent severe weather events in the Sierra Foothills, and their consequences, led to a deep dive into what history and science tell us about extreme storms and floods in the West. Public safety remains a major focus of his interests; he chairs the local Emergency Preparedness Committee. His book, Megastorms, California, and You, published by Dryas Press, is intended to be an accessible introduction, with considerable depth, to what is known about extreme West Coast winter weather events and their impacts. With a dash of ‘dry wit for wet times,’ he hopes to inspire and motivate the broad masses and their public officials to become aware and forward-looking, and to take all reasonable measures to reduce expected consequences to the absolute minimum. As he wrote these words on 9/27/24, much of the Southeastern USA was flooded and inaccessible. In light of the recent urban fire in Oakland, and so close to the 33rd anniversary of the Oakland Hills fire, this talk is very timely.
If you've found mushrooms you'd like to identify, bring those along. Entrance to VLSB is on northwest entrance, under the stairs on the right (see details on calendar page). Doors open at 7:30. Meeting starts promptly at 8:00.
Tom Volk Memorial in Mycologia
We just found out about this tribute to Tom in Mycologia, published last month, and written by Hal Burdsall, Dan Lindner, and Todd Osmundson. For those who didn't know him, Tom was a towering yet humble figure in North American mycology. He taught and inspired countless students as Professor of Mycology at UW LaCrosse, and volunteered thousands of hours towards helping others, whether by donating time to amateur mycology, or assisting his beloved Wisconsin marching band, Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps, in ways both small (helping to feed them at events) and large (financing a food truck). Tom always had time for the "little fun guy and gal," and was beloved by everyone, not just for his scholarship but for his character. What a shining light he was, and with a wicked sense of humor, too!
Tom spoke to BAMS three times: January 2010 on polypore taxonomy; January 2014 on the secret sex lives of fungi; and January 2016 on the seven deadly sins committed by fungi. Volk was a prominent figure in the North American Mycological Association and served as Institutional Trustee for over a decade. Click here to read the memorial in Mycologia.
Amatoxin: The Deadliest of All Mushroom Poisonings
Debbie Viess has written a new modern treatment of amatoxin: what mushrooms contain it, mode of action, poisoning symptoms, and best treatments. Although amatoxin causes human and animal deaths around the world every year, with prompt care in a modern medical/veterinary facility, the chances of surviving and having a full recovery are quite good. Only around 12% of healthy adults poisoned will die or require a liver transplant. Without such care, human deaths are closer to 50%.
We lack good statistics for pet poisonings, but their poisonings are often more severe and more often fatal, but even in the case of dog poisonings, there are protocols available that can increase the rate of survival. To read this important new article, follow this link...
Sex and the Single Stinkhorn
Some rumors need a strong denial. In this essay, Debbie Viess obliterates the proposition put forth in a sketchy study published in an obscure journal that a species of stinkhorn may cause spontaneous female arousal. The authors' attempt to wrap this ridiculous idea in Hawaiian myth is firmly debunked. Although first published in 2001, the idea that this phenomenon is real persists and occasionally gets notice on social media sites. To read Debbie's humorous and direct response, follow this link...
This article first appeared in Mushroom the Journal, Issue 114, Volume 31, No.4, Fall 2015, p. 16.
Further Reflections on Amanita muscaria as an Edible Species
Here is a thoughtful response to the current push to eat Amanita muscaria, along with a history of its treatment in field guides, its toxins, and warnings about edibility. To read the article, follow this link...
This article first appeared in Mushroom The Journal, Issue 110, Fall 2011 - Winter 2012, p. 42.
The Bay Area Mycological Society (BAMS), established in 2006, is dedicated to the art and science of mushrooms. We hold our meetings at UC Berkeley. We hold local and long distance forays, participate in the Yosemite National Park Fungal Survey, and organize the Point Reyes Fungus Fairs and All California Club Forays.
We are affiliated with the North American Mycological Association. We host a lively online discussion group. Our members range from beginners to professionals in the field. We believe that everyone wants to learn, and has ideas to share. Join us.
