Mycologist News
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MYCOLOGIST NEWS The newsletter of the British Mycological Society 2010 (4) Edited by Dr. Ian Singleton 2011 BMS Council BMS Council and Committee Members 2011 President Prof. Naresh Magan Vice-President Dr. Stuart Skeates President Elect Dr. Geoff Robson Treasurer Prof. Geoff M Gadd Secretary Position vacant Publications Officer Dr. Pieter van West International Initiatives Adviser Prof. AJ Whalley Fungal Biology Research Committee representatives: Dr. Simon Avery; Nick Read Fungal Education and Outreach Committee: Dr. Paul S. Dyer; Ms. Carol Hobart Field Mycology and Conservation: Dr. David Minter; Prof. Bruce Ing Fungal Biology Research Committee Dr. Simon Avery (Chair) retiring 31.12. 2012 Dr. Elaine Bignell retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Mark Ramsdale retiring 31.12. 2013 Prof. Nick Read retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Pieter van West retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Peter Crittenden retiring 31.12. 2011 Dr. Fordyce Davidson retiring 31.12. 2011 Dr. David Minter (FMC link) retiring 31.12. 2011 Fungal Education and Outreach Committee Dr. Paul S. Dyer (Chair and FBR link) retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Matt Fisher retiring 31.12. 2011 Dr. Ali Ashby retiring 31.12. 2013 Ms. Carol Hobart (FMC link) retiring 31.12. 2012 Dr. Sue Assinder retiring 31.12. 2013 Dr. Kay Yeoman retiring 31.12. 2013 KS4 representative still needed Field Mycology and Conservation Committee Dr. Stuart Skeates (Chair and website) retiring 31.12. 2011 Prof. Bruce Ing (Conservation) retiring 31.12. 2012 Dr. Paul Kirk (Database) retiring 31.12. 2012 Ms. Carol Hobart (Events and FEO link) retiring 31.12. 2012 Dr. Dave Minter (FBR Link) retiring 31.12. 2011 Dr. Derek Shafer (membership database and accounts) retiring 31.12. 2011 Mrs. Sheila Spence (Recorders network co-ordinator) retiring 31.12. 2013 Contacts BMS Administrator President: [email protected] British Mycological Society Treasurer: [email protected] City View House Mycologist News: [email protected] Union Street BMS Administrator: [email protected] Manchester M12 4JD BMS Membership: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 161 277 7638 / 7639 Fax: +44(0) 161 277 7634 2 From the Office Welcome to the last Mycologist News for 2010 The snow is starting to fall as the temperature plummets. Winter draws on! As we head towards Christmas it’s my sad duty to announce that Allie Brown, the Membership Assistant, has left the BMS office for pastures new and while we’ll miss her a lot, we wish her well in her new job. Current Norman Porrett Sophie Embleton BMS President Lynne Boddy steps down at years Administrator BMS Field Mycology end and we welcome Prof Naresh Magan as our Office Assistant new BMS President. I’m sure you’ll all join me in thanking Lynne Boddy for all her terrific work over the last two years, especially with implementation of the structural changes within the BMS Council Contents and Committees. Reflections from the President 4 IMC 9, held in August in the beautiful city of Membership Subscription 2011 Fees 5 Edinburgh, was a huge success and raised the profile of the BMS immensely amongst the IMC9 Conference Review 6 international mycological community. The various Fungus Poems 8 activities organised to run alongside IMC9 were also well received and attended, especially the Funding Central 9 huge fungal exhibition hosted at the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh. The fungal From Another Kingdom 10 weekend activities involving children and adults Post IMC9 Visitors 12 will surely help enthuse the budding fungal enthusiasts of the future. Autumn Open Meeting 13 Remember BMS in your Will 14 As we head into 2011 we are sure we’ll get a whole bunch of articles from our readership after a Biology & Education 15 very productive autumn. The various fungus groups affiliated with the BMS tell us they’ve had a Berkley Award Winner Announced 16 record season for all specimens. If you have any New International Society for Fungal 16 pictures you would like to reach a wider audience, Conservation please send them in and we’ll do our best to get the most striking images published in the Fungus in the Media 17 Newsletter. MiSAC Competition 2010 18 So a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and a BMS Bursary Reports 19 Wonderful New Year to all our readers. Cyberliber Update 21 The Office Staff Obituary - Professor Terence Ingold 22 Obituary - Camilla Lovatt 24 2011 Field Meetings & Booking Form 25 2011 BMS Annual Scientific Meeting 30 Fungus Photo Corner 31 Deadline for article submission into next issue: 12 February 2011 3 Reflections of the President It is always slightly worrying to look back on what one with the Mycological Society of Japan to organise a set out to accomplish several years before, as almost session on “Inventory and database of Fungi” at the inevitably achievements fall short of hopes and Asian Mycological Congress in Taichung, Taiwan, aspirations. In the 2009 issue of Mycologist News I 2009 (see Mycologist News) Issue 1, 2010. Indeed, I saw the main priority for the Society as being “to started writing this while flying to Thailand to liaise, ensure harmony within the Society and to set it on a together with Nick Read, with the Thai Mycological course for the future that will allow us all to participate Society over IMC10. in our many and varied activities without fear or threat of undue interference from members who have We gave several talks in universities in Bangkok and different interests from our own”. After many full and at a conference on Biodiversity and Resources in frank debates of the strategy group and Council, a Chiang Rai. We were followed a couple of weeks later questionnaire and a consultation document was sent by Geoff Gadd, Geoff Robson and Tony Whalley (full out and was responded to by many members. After report to follow in Mycologist News, 2011). FMC have this the Society voted to change the constitution to also had very successful overseas forays, including allow a new operating structure at a special general Sampeyre, Italy in October 2010. I was privileged to meeting of the Society early in 2010. As you are all attend the latter and was hugely impressed by the aware the BMS now has a smaller Council but one countries represented (Australia, Belgium, China, that is designed to ensure equal representation of all France, Israel, Italy and the UK). Both the Chinese the interests of the Society (full details in the IMC9 and Italian Mycological Societies presented BMS with special issue of Mycologist News July 2010 available several books now housed in the library at Kew (listed below) and a silk embroidery of mushrooms. online www.britmycolsoc.org.uk). Detailed activities are planned by the three committees - Fungal Biology Of course, our major interaction with overseas Research (FBR), Fungal Education and Outreach mycologists was at the phenomenally successful 9th (FEO) and Field Mycology and Conservation (FMC) - International Mycological Congress in Edinburgh this each of which comprises 7 elected members. So far year (see later in this issue for a report). The science this is working well, but it is just the beginning. It is was superb, and this was backed up by equally high down to each and every one of us to ensure that the quality organisation and entertainment. It is difficult to committees are stocked with plenty of ideas for find the words necessary to praise the main organiser activities and that these activities, be they scientific, Nick Read, the organising committee, the scientific general or field meetings, workshops or public themed chairs and committees and literally hundreds engagement, are well supported. In this way we can who contributed to making this the mycological event fulfil the Society aim of promoting fungal science. of the decade. Other extremely successful The second major aim that I put forward was that we mycological meetings were “The Fungal Cell” in must strive much harder not only to educate our Dundee, September 2009, and “The Ecology of research students but also to make the general public Fungal Fruiting” and “New approaches to the study of aware of the huge significance of fungi to our every fungi in the field” in Kew in November 2009 and 2010 respectively. day lives and to the functioning of the ecosystems of planet Earth. As I pointed out in the first issue of Our science is reported in our four journals. Mycologist News 2009, this means that we need to Mycological Research changed its name to Fungal educate children of all ages through junior school, Biology in 2010, broadening its content. Field senior school and university education and we need Mycology continues to serve the Field Community to educate the educators. We must reach adults in well with good high quality photographs, reports on general and teachers and policy makers in particular. exciting finds, conservation issues, keys etc. The While local groups have continued with a variety of younger journals, Fungal Biology Reviews and Fungal stimulating events, this year we shifted our main effort Ecology are now becoming established, the latter and funds to collaborating with the Royal Botanic receiving its first impact factor this year after less than Garden Edinburgh to put on the “From Another three years from its inception. Kingdom” exhibition, which ran in the new John Hope Gateway Centre from the beginning of August At the start of my tenure as president in 2009 I wrote through till late November. The FEO has also made “the new BMS website is well under way and should an excellent start to providing new resources for soon start to meet [communication] needs. This children and teachers. sounded very straight forward, but proved to be far Under the guiding hand of Tony Whalley from the case as the web designers went under.