🌿Mushroom diversity and fossils - Ludo le Renard

Mushroom diversity and the significance of fossil mushrooms
Dr. Ludo le Renard, a postdoctoral researcher in the Berbee Lab at the UBC Biodiversity Research Centre, says: Mushrooms are very diverse and difficult to identify using morphology. To make it worse, the morphology of fossil mushrooms is often incompletely preserved. To make sense of the fragmentary fossil record of fungi, we need to explore the diversity of living groups and find morphological characters that are shared between closely related species. In this presentation, I will present mushroom morphological diversity and characters relevant to interpreting fossil mushrooms. We will then explore important time periods in the geological past of fungi through their fossil record.
Curious about biology and nature since my childhood, I fell in love with mycology during my undergraduate degree in France. My prior interest in evolutionary biology and paleontology brought me to Canada, to pursue a PhD on fossil fungi. By studying living fungi that resemble fossils, it becomes possible to learn something from the fossil record and to include fungi trapped in rocks to our understanding of evolution! The fossil record of fungi drives my interest for fungi, which I love to share about. I have been engaged in public education through the Vancouver Mycological Society since 2012, and I have been leading the education committee since 2024.
This is a hybrid event on Zoom and in-person. For people who arrive before 7:15, there will be a display table with fresh fungi for identification.