Ecuador, a country with roughly the same area as the state of Colorado, is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and is home to countless species yet to be discovered, particularly fungi. The fragility of these ecosystems and looming threats of destruction means the clock is ticking for species documentation. In this talk, Alan Rockefeller shows his favorite finds over five years of explorations in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
 
Alan Rockefeller is an acclaimed mycologist renowned for his expertise in DNA barcoding, field photography, and microscopy. With over 20 years of experience, he has documented and photographed more than 2,500 fungal species. Alan has dedicated the past 15 years to studying fungal diversity in Mexico, regularly leading forays and sharing his knowledge with mycology enthusiasts worldwide.

Alan is passionate about education and has taught thousands of people how to extract and sequence the DNA of their mushrooms. His contributions include uploading over 700 DNA sequences to GenBank and co-authoring several scientific papers, notably on new species of bioluminescent Mycena and Psilocybe. He has also identified over 400,000 fungal observations on platforms like iNaturalist and Mushroom Observer, contributing significantly to the understanding of global fungal diversity.

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·  Meeting date and time: 7:30 pm PST, Tuesday, February 18th, 2025
·  Individuals may attend in-person, beginning at 6:30pm, for mushroom ID, refreshments and social interaction in the Buckley Room of the Randall Museum
·  Virtually: At 7:30pm,  Join the Zoom Meeting   Meeting ID: 891 8438 9640