Fungi are vital to life on Earth as we know it. Although once grouped with plants, fungi are now recognised as a separate, and arguably one of the largest, kingdom of organisms, with over 5 million species estimated. From microscopic single celled yeasts to one of the largest living organisms on our planet, fungi can be found in just about every habitat on Earth, from the Arctic to the tropics, in the air we breathe, in seas and oceans, in the home and garden – and even as part of the human microbiome.
Fungi form beneficial partnerships with plants and animals, they are our planet’s best recyclers, yet they can cause disease and devastate crops. We use fungi in our everyday lives, in food products, as medicines, to help clean up the environment, as building materials and packaging, in fashion and in cleaning products. Fungi will be essential as we move towards a more sustainable future. After all, we could not and would not survive on Earth without them.
Morning session: Shapes and forms of fungi
The course will start with some of the most important first steps needed to begin to recognize different macro fruit body forms. Fresh specimens will be available to examine with hand lenses and microscopes and the participants will be able to set up spore prints and observe spore colour, shape, and ornamentation (with the aid of a microscope).
Afternoon: All mushrooms are fungi but not all fungi are mushrooms
A whistle stop tour of the fungal kingdom will be presented – what fungi are, who belongs in the kingdom, and the role that fungi play in our everyday lives and in shaping our world. A question-and-answer session will then round off the day.
Dr Ali Ashby is a fungal biologist with a passion for promoting fungal science and for communicating her fascination for the breadth and complexity of the fungal world to a global audience of all ages. She is a former Royal Society University Research Fellow having been based in the Department of Plant Sciences, at the University of Cambridge, where she researched fungal sexual development and fungal diseases of crops. Ali is a member of the Royal Society of Biology and the British Mycological Society (BMS). She has contributed her knowledge and enthusiasm for fungi at many outreach and public engagement events and was instrumental in founding UK Fungus Day, which runs annually throughout the UK and is the flagship outreach event of the BMS. She has recently co-authored a book with Professor Lynne Boddy entitled ‘Fungi: discover the science and secrets behind the world of mushrooms’ published by Dorling Kindersley and is currently working on a children’s book for the DK Anthology series as well as her own book ‘Unravelling the Fungus Among Us’.
Bookings for this course will close 7 October
Please take the time to read our course cancellations and refunds policy.