Introductory Mycology BOT 461/561 Instructor: Joey Spatafora 2082 Cordley Hall Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 97331-2902 TEL: 541-737-5304 FAX: 541-737-3573 spatafoj@bcc.orst.edu

Sarcoscypha occidentalis photo by Rytas Vilgalys

Office hours: Wednesdays from 10am to 11am and by appointment.

Text: Introductory Mycology 4th Ed. by Alexopoulos, Mims and Blackwell

Field guide: Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora

Purpose of this Web page:
This web page is intended to enhance the student's learning experience and not supplant the classroom, the instructor, textbooks or other resources. Obviously nothing can replace going out into the woods and learning the FUNGI!!

Course format:
The course will consist of lectures (10-11 am) and laboratories (1-4 pm) every Monday and Friday. Lectures will cover basic information on life histories, systematics, ecology, genetics and cell biology of fungi. Laboratories will focus on fungal taxonomy. Laboratory exercises will include microscopy, isolation techniques, learning to use keys and describe fungi. A total of five field trips will be made to local forests to provide the student with the opportunity to observe and collect fungi in their natural habitat. Students will have time to work on collections during laboratory periods, however, outside time will be necessary to complete to collection.

Examinations: Exams and practicals will given during laboratory periods. There will be three exams and three practicals. The content of the exams will cover the lectures from the previous lectures and relavent chapters from the textbook. The content of practicals will be strongly influenced by what fungi are fruiting at that time and relavent information from the field guide. The final examination for graduate students will include a 50 pt comprehensive section.

Collection: Undergraduate students are required to make a collection of 20 species from 15 familes. Each specimen must be identified to species, accompanied with notes on habitat, substrate, locality and morphology, and curated for accessioning into the OSU Mycological Collection . Graduate students are required to make a collection of 25 species from 20 families.

Student evaluations: Students' grade will consist of exams, practicals and specimen collections. A ten point grading scale will be used. These are summarized as follows:

In the beginning...