General Meeting-- Sara Branco (by Susan Labiste)

Join us for our monthly meeting! We gather at the Harvey West Scout House for refreshments and informal mushroom ID from 7:00 – 7:30. Organizers will then provide updates on future forays and other activities, followed by our speakers. Bring along your sense of curiosity and any mushrooms you've found and would like help identifying. 

Sara Branco: Understanding fungal diversity from a population perspective

 Sara is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. She fell in love with fungi at age 16 and has been studying fungi ever since. She is interested in fungal diversity, ecology and evolution and has studied fungal communities both in Europe and the US and more recently started focusing on the population genomics of Suillus brevipes.

Suillus brevipes, an ectomycorrhizal fungus associated with pine trees. She uses whole genomes of S. brevipes individuals across North America to assess 1) whether there are different populations of the species across the continent, 2) how genetically different potential populations are, and 3) if local environments are related to genetic differentiation. Results from her study will contribute not only for a better appreciation for the ecology and evolution of S. brevipes, but more importantly, will inform on the way ectomycorrhizal fungal species occur and evolve in their natural environments.

Fungi are hyperdiverse organisms that assemble in dynamic and complex communities and details on individual species are crucial for understanding such complicated assemblages. Studying fungal populations allows understanding how specific species live in nature, which is crucial for a full appreciation of fungal diversity. Populations can tell us about how and why species are distributed across the landscape and whether specific environments act to differentiate populations by imprinting genetic diversity. Ultimately, population-level studies shed light on the processes involved in the formation of new species.