The spores of knowledge will be spread at Moorabool council’s next BaccChat event, with a talk from local mycologist Ema Corro.
Ema Corro is a mycologist with experience in mushroom cultivation and fungal ecology. She is coordinator of MYCOmmunity Applied Mycology which is a citizen-science group that organised the Moorabool Mushroom Festival.
Ms Corro will teach about fungi, their roles in the ecosystem and how people can be involved in fungal ecology and conservation through citizen science.
“The field is really understudied,” she said.
“Only about five per cent of fungi have even been named. This means that there’s just so much to be discovered… There are at least a couple of extremely rare species of mushroom forming fungi that have been discovered in Wombat Forest.
“Whether we’re talking about fungi as food, medicine, in agriculture or ecology, there’s an endless supply of interesting questions. There’s also a lot of interesting stuff that can be done with fungi like creating alternatives to plastic or improving soils and crop production.”
BacchChat is a free community presentation, providing opportunities for our community to learn, grow and engage with varied topics, held on the first Saturday of each month.
The Fungi, fungal ecology and conservation BaccChat with Ema Corro will be held on Saturday, November 4 at the Lerderderg Library from 10am to noon.
Applied Mycology does citizen science as well as workshops on things like mushroom cultivation in Moorabool and other areas and people can get involved online.
Details: www.moorabool.vic.gov.au/Events/BacchChat-with-Ema-Corro-Fungi-fungal-ecology-and-conservation or www.myco.org.au
