February 2023 General Meeting - Alan Rockefeller "Recent Mycological Finds"

Please join us for our February meeting at the Harvey West Club House. 

The evening will start at 6:30 pm for those who would like to socialize, snack on Bob Wynn's fantastic spread and chat with fellow mycophiles before the meeting. Bring in any fungi you have been skillful enough to find for identification! Business and announcements will start at 7:00 pm. After the business part of the meeting, we will be joined by Alan Rockefeller, our evening's speaker.

Alan will discuss his cross-continent travels over the last 12 months,  fungal diversity of Mexico and across the U.S. from West Virginia to the Pacific Northwest and everywhere in between. Discussion of upcoming events will be included.

 View talk on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2m7BV0hbwk&list=PL9N48MrkYQfCJM3Wm5jsAWaUGJtqxVhHW&index=1

Alan Rockefeller is an expert mycologist in high demand at mushroom events where he teaches
workshops on DNA barcoding, field photography, and fungal microscopy. In 2022 alone, Alan
traveled the continent in synchrony with the mushroom seasons, and spoke at over 50 events in
the span of a single year. Committed to his cause, Alan has been studying fungal diversity for
more than two decades, and since 2001 he has photographed more than 2,500 species of fungi.
In order to discover new fungi, and spark interest in the hearts and minds of those new to the
field, Alan regularly leads forays all over North America, including Mexico where he has been
studying the mushroom diversity for 15 years and is consequently bilingual. Alan’s contributions
to community science have been widespread, and his dedication to teaching thousands of
people over several years how to extract and amplify the DNA of their mushroom finds for
sequencing is remarkable, and remains unparalleled. Eventually Alan hopes to be able to offer
free barcoding services to the mycology community via his newest endeavor into Nanopore
sequencing. As of today, Alan has uploaded more than 700 of his own fungal DNA sequences
to Genbank, and he is a co-author on several scientific papers, including publications
documenting new species of bioluminescent Mycena and Psilocybe. Alan is also devoted to the
art of macroscopic mushroom identification and legitimately spends hours each day identifying
mushrooms for the general public. Amazingly, he has identified over 250,000 fungi on websites
like iNaturalist, Mushroom Observer, and various Facebook Groups. Nothing short of a
powerhouse, Alan Rockefeller is an authority on the leading edge of mycology, who is beloved
by his community for the knowledge and value he contributes to the field.