Happy New Moon! 
Our third meeting is coming up in approximately 10 hours (see above for details). Looking forward to hanging out with some of you and getting geeky over ant-fungus farming.
Fourth Meeting 
Date: Saturday, 27 February 02021
Time: 19:00 (UTC+1)
Place: Jitsi Meeting Room (video call)
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
It feels like a good time to read a cultivation-related paper 
This should be a lot more accessible and directly-applicable than our previous readings.
We’ve all heard about growing mushrooms on used coffee grounds, how about tea waste?
Yang D, Liang J, Wang Y, et al (2016). Tea waste: an effective and economic substrate for oyster mushroom cultivation. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 96(2), 680-684.
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Tea waste is the residue that remains after tea leaves have been extracted by hot water to obtain water-soluble components. The waste contains a re-usable energy substrate and nutrients which may pollute the environment if they are not dealt with appropriately. Other agricultural wastes have been widely studied as substrates for cultivating mushrooms. In the present study, we cultivated oyster mushroom using tea waste as substrate. To study the feasibility of re-using it, tea waste was added to the substrate at different ratios in different experimental groups. Three mushroom strains (39, 71 and YOU) were compared and evaluated. Mycelia growth rate, yield, biological efficiency and growth duration were measured.
RESULTS: Substrates with different tea waste ratios showed different growth and yield performance. The substrate containing 40–60% of tea waste resulted in the highest yield.
CONCLUSION: Tea waste could be used as an effective and economic substrate for oyster mushroom cultivation. This study also provided a useful way of dealing with massive amounts of tea waste.
I think this one will be a lot of fun! It’s short and to-the-point, and should inspire some great conversation about experimental design and how to apply these techniques to small-scale cultivation efforts.
I hope to see you there!
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I’ve been incredibly slow at announcing the next meeting 
@notplants, would you like to go ahead with a meeting tomorrow night (New Moon) or would you prefer to wait until Full Moon?
I was thinking we might read the paper on distilled water storage (which I mentioned in another thread):
Richter DL (2008). Revival of saprotrophic and mycorrhizal basidiomycete cultures after 20 years in cold storage in sterile water. Canadian journal of microbiology, 54(8), 595-599.
How does that soun?
that sounds great! and from my end I’d say lets wait until the full moon so we can give a bit more notice and see if anyone else is able to join
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Fifth Meeting
Date: Sunday, 28 March 02021
Time: 19:00 (UTC+1)
Place: Jitsi Meeting Room (video call)
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
Let’s learn more about culture preservation and revival!
Richter DL, Dixon TG, Smith JK (2016). Revival of saprotrophic and mycorrhizal basidiomycete cultures after 30 years in cold storage in sterile water. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, 62(11), 932-937.
Abstract:
Vegetatively-colonized agar cores of 54 basidiomycete fungal isolates were stored at 5°C in tubes of sterile distilled water without manipulation for 30 years. The cultures represented 28 isolates of saprotrophic fungi and 26 isolates of mycorrhizal fungi. These cultures came from a group of 135 fungal isolates that were determined to be viable after 20 years of cold water storage. Overall, 47 of the 54 isolates (87%) grew vigorously when revived after storage for 30 years - of the 28 saprotrophic fungal isolates, 26 revived (93%); of the 26 mycorrhizal fungal isolates, 21 revived (81%). Eight of 13 isolates (62%) of Laccaria were viable after 30 years, which was considerably less viability than was found after 20 years for this genus of mycorrhizal fungi. However, a greater percentage of isolates of L. bicolor (83%) were viable than of L. laccata (43%) suggesting 30 years to be approaching the maximum limit for storage in cold sterile water for certain species. Considering the original 135 fungal isolates that were stored in sterile cold water from which this set was derived, overall survival after 30 years storage was 42%; however, saprotrophic fungi demonstrated considerably greater viability (70%) than mycorrhizal fungi (21%).
Keywords:
culture maintenance, culture viability, fungal preservation, long-term storage, mycorrhizal fungi, saprotrophic fungi
This should be a great paper and discussion for anyone involved in cultivation of mycelia. I’m sure we’ll have some deep conversations about culture preservation in the context of communal labs, cooperatives and sharing.
Let’s develop the knowledge and skills to ensure our great-great-great grandchildren can continue the relationships we’re forming with the fungi; humyn-fungal knots through spacetime.
I hope to see you there!
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just a reminder for anyone in Berlin that since we just had daylight savings time today,
the reading group this evening is at 20:00 Berlin time
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missed this discussion but this was a fantastic read and is still blowing my mind. i think i excitedly elaborated the points of this paper to like literally everyone in my life in the days after i read it.
has anybody here experiments with this method? (i’m guessing probably not for the spans of time in the paper, but anything >2 years or so?)
one of the things that i think deeply engages me in culture work is the capacity to keep a library of living backups. i just made my first viable transfer of some shiitake and pearl oyster strains kept in storage for about 7 months and at some point i was planning on trying to make some master slants, but this method blows all of that out of the water.
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Sixth Meeting
Date: Monday, 12 April 02021
Time: 19:00 (UTC+2)
Place: Jitsi Meeting Room (video call)
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
A very interesting question came up during our last call: can mycorrhizal fungi be harmful (in an ecological sense) when introduced to non-native habitats?
Let’s see what we can learn about this topic.
Schwartz MW, Hoeksema JD, Gehring CA, et al (2006). The promise and the potential consequences of the global transport of mycorrhizal fungal inoculum. Ecology Letters, 9(5), 501-515.
Abstract:
Advances in ecology during the past decade have led to a much more detailed understanding of the potential negative consequences of species’ introductions. Moreover, recent studies of mycorrhizal symbionts have led to an increased knowledge of the potential utility of fungal inoculations in agricultural, horticultural and ecological management. The intentional movement of mycorrhizal fungal species is growing, but the concomitant potential for negative ecological consequences of invasions by mycorrhizal fungi is poorly understood. We assess the degree to which introductions of mycorrhizal fungi may lead to unintended negative, and potentially costly, consequences. Our purpose is to make recommendations regarding appropriate management guidelines and highlight top priority research needs. Given the difficulty in discerning invasive species problems associated with mycorrhizal inoculations, we recommend the following. First, careful assessment documenting the need for inoculation, and the likelihood of success, should be conducted prior to inoculation because inoculations are not universally beneficial. Second, invasive species problems are costly and often impossible to control by the time they are recognized. We recommend using local inoculum sources whenever possible. Third, non‐sterile cultures of inoculum can result in the movement of saprobes and pathogens as well as mutualists. We recommend using material that has been produced through sterile culture when local inoculum is not available. Finally, life‐history characteristics of inoculated fungi may provide general guidelines relative to the likelihood of establishment and spread. We recommend that, when using non‐local fungi, managers choose fungal taxa that carry life‐history traits that may minimize the likelihood of deleterious invasive species problems. Additional research is needed on the potential of mycorrhizal fungi to spread to non‐target areas and cause ecological damage.
Please message me if you need access to the paper. Looking forward to seeing and hearing some of you!
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Glad you enjoyed the paper! I was also amazed by the efficacy of such a simple technique! Peter McCoy mentions in Radical Mycology that the distilled water technique used to be much more popular but has somehow fallen out of popularity in recent years. Perhaps the increased availability of cultures has led to a decline in culture-backup management practices? The ‘I can always buy another one’ mentality, perhaps? I’m really excited to employ this technique into the future 
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one interesting things I’ve learned in this reading group so far is how the phases of the moon seem to roll through the days of the week. think we started on a wednesday and were at monday now… curious when we’ll get back to wednesday… learned lots of other interesting things too lol … buy enjoying this rhythm
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for anyone following along but who didn’t make it last night, highly recommend this last paper. its so good. great coverage of the topic, and also so much other interesting info included about cryptic genetic and morphological species, biogeographic mapping of mychorizzal fungi, and frameworks for thinking about invasive species in general
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Seventh Meeting
Date: Tuesday, 27 April 02021
Time: 19:00 (UTC+2)
Place: Jitsi Meeting Room (video call)
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
I thought it might be nice to read a biology and cultivation-related paper this time. @notplants and I were chatting about parameters for inducing fruitbody formation. Perhaps this paper would be a good starting point for deeper investigation:
Kües U & Liu Y (2000). Fruiting body production in basidiomycetes. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 54(2), 141-152.
Abstract:
Mushroom cultivation presents an economically important biotechnological industry that has markedly expanded all over the world in the past few decades. Mushrooms serve as delicacies for human consumption and as nutriceuticals, as “food that also cures”. Mushrooms, the fruiting bodies of basidiomycetous fungi, contain substances of various kinds that are highly valued as medicines, flavourings and perfumes. Nevertheless, the biological potential of mushrooms is probably far from exploited. A major problem up to now is that only a few species can be induced to fruit in culture. Our current knowledge on the biological processes of fruiting body initiation and development is limited and arises mostly from studies of selected model organisms that are accessible to molecular genetics. A better understanding of the developmental processes underlying fruiting in these model organisms is expected to help mushroom cultivation of other basidiomycetes in the future.
Please message me if you need access to the paper. Looking forward to seeing and hearing some of you!
P.s. @notplants maybe we aim to record this one for later sharing?
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@glyph this sounds great. I spend my days in muddled confusion about why some things are fruiting and some not so having some biological background sounds great. Also up for recording the call.
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Eighth Meeting
Date: Tuesday, 11 May 02021
Time: 19:00 (UTC+2)
Place: Jitsi Meeting Room (video call)
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
My sincere apologies for posting this so late. I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with a new work project.
Time for another ecology paper. I’m really excited about this one! If you’ve been wanting to join these meetings but haven’t quite worked up the courage - this could be a great round to jump in! The paper is short and relatively accessible and I think the conversation is going to be super interesting. We are friendly humyns and do our very best to provide a comfortable and welcoming environment.
Jusino MA, Lindner DL, Banik MT, et al. (2016). Experimental evidence of a symbiosis between red-cockaded woodpeckers and fungi. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 283(1827).
Link to the open-access paper (PDF)
Abstract:
Primary cavity excavators, such as woodpeckers, are ecosystem engineers in many systems. Associations between cavity excavators and fungi have long been hypothesized to facilitate cavity excavation, but these relationships have not been experimentally verified. Fungi may help excavators by softening wood, while excavators may facilitate fungal dispersal. Here we demonstrate that excavators facilitate fungal dispersal and thus we report the first experimental evidence of a symbiosis between fungi and a cavity excavator, the red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW,Picoides borealis). Swab samples of birds showed that RCWs carry fungal communities similar to those found in their completed excavations. A 26-month field experiment using human-made aseptically drilled excavations in live trees, half of which were inaccessible to RCWs, demonstrated that RCWs directly alter fungal colonization and community composition. Experimental excavations that were accessible to RCWs contained fungal communities similar to natural RCW excavations, whereas inaccessible experimental excavations contained significantly different fungal communities. Our work demonstrates a complex symbiosis between cavity excavators and communities of fungi, with implications for forest ecology, wildlife management, and conservation.
I’m going to test out my live recording setup now to be sure we can record our meeting this time around
Hope to see some of you there!
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Thanks to the terrific efforts of @notplants, we now have a PeerTube instance for hosting and sharing ecology videos 
We recorded the last meeting of the reading group and are happy to be able to share it with you all. I’ll do my best to keep up with this recording and uploading practice.
Any thoughts or feedback - whether about the content of the discussion / paper or about the recording - are welcome!
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Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to you two discuss this paper! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts (and for the invite). Really fascinating topic which also inspired me to learn more about woodpeckers in general - and led me to this podcast episode about two particular species local to our region which I’ve wondered about.
I have a rather limited capacity for online stuff right now (and am reconfiguring my lifestyle/schedule more broadly), but am hoping to join a future session :^) In the least, I look forward to tuning into any other recordings.
Truth be told, my understanding of mycology in general is very light, but I’m also keen to learn more about topics in this realm. I’ll see what I can do to work Hyphal Fusion into my newforming circuit!
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Ah @umhi, so lovely to see you here! Thanks so much for taking a listen; it makes me stoked to hear that you and Kate enjoyed the conversation and that it led you to learn more about woodpeckers in your area. Thanks as well for the link to The Field Guides podcast. I think I might have listened to an episode last year sometime, or maybe they featured on the In Defense of Plants podcast…can’t quite recall.
Best wishes for your reconfiguration - sounds exciting. You are always welcome to join. Please do let us know if there’s ever a particular time which suits you best and we can make a plan. I plan on continuing with the recordings as well.
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Ninth Meeting
Date: Wednesday, 26 May 02021
Time: 19:00 (UTC+2)
Place: Jitsi Meeting Room (video call)
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: English
It’s about time we had some ethnomycological action in this reading group! Broadly speaking, ethnomycology is the study of the relationships between humyns and fungi across spacetime. It can be considered a close cousin of ethnobotany - both of which are subcategories within the field of ethnobiology - and is often approached in an interdisciplinary manner, weaving together theory and methods from art history, anthropology, archaeology, mycology, ecology and beyond.
I am really looking forward to reading and discussing this paper:
Garibay-Orijel R, Ramírez-Terrazo A & Ordaz-Velázquez M. (2012). Women care about local knowledge, experiences from ethnomycology. Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine, 8(1), 1-13.
Link to the open-access paper (PDF)
Abstract:
Gender is one of the main variables that influence the distribution of local knowledge. We carried out a literature review concerning local mycological knowledge, paying special attention to data concerning women’s knowledge and comparative gender data. We found that unique features of local mycological knowledge allow people to successfully manage mushrooms. Women are involved in every stage of mushroom utilization from collection to processing and marketing. Local mycological knowledge includes the use mushrooms as food, medicine, and recreational objects as well as an aid to seasonal household economies. In many regions of the world, women are often the main mushroom collectors and possess a vast knowledge about mushroom taxonomy, biology, and ecology. Local experts play a vital role in the transmission of local mycological knowledge. Women participate in the diffusion of this knowledge as well as in its enrichment through innovation. Female mushroom collectors appreciate their mycological knowledge and pursue strategies and organization to reproduce it in their communities. Women mushroom gatherers are conscious of their knowledge, value its contribution in their subsistence systems, and proudly incorporate it in their cultural identity.
I intend to record the discussion so we can share the video afterwards. Looking forward to seeing and hearing some of you!
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Thanks, @glyph! Hopefully one or both of us can join the next meeting for at least part, sounds like another fascinating paper :^)
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a thought writing here before I forget, could be nice to do a meeting sometime where we briefly review all the papers we’ve read so far. maybe the 12th meeting, half-solar-cycle.
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