INTRODUCTORY MYCOLOGY

BOT 461/561

Instructor: Joey Spatafora Cordley 4092 737-5304 spatafoj@bcc.orst.edu

Sarcoscypha coccinea Photo by Wayne Armstrong

Office hours: TR 11am-noon 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 two lectures and two lab sessions each week. 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 # 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 will given in the first part of a laboratory period. There will be a midterm and a comprehensive final exam, and a midterm and final practical. The content of practicals will be strongly influences by what fungi are fruiting at that time.

Specimen and culture collection: A representative collection of field-collected specimens reflecting the diversity of fungi from local habitats will be required of each student. Collections will consist of 25 (undergraduate student) or 30 (graduate student) dried specimens identified to genus and species, with notes on fresh and microscopic characteristics. Collections should be annotated and processed as herbarium specimens, with ancillary notes, spore prints, photos and other data used in their identification. In addition to the specimen collection, each student will be expected to assemble a culture collection of 5 microscopic fungi. Half of the collection is due the week after midterm and the second half is due the week before finals.

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

	Undergrad.	Grad.
Midterm Exam:	100 pts	100 pts
Midterm Practical:	50 pts	50 pts
Final Exam (Comprehensive):	200 pts	200 pts
Final Practical:	50 pts	50 pts
Specimen and culture collection:	100 pts	120 pts
Total Points:	500 pts	520 pts