Mushroom minute: a look at the invasive golden oyster mushroom with Aishwarya Veerabahu

Abigail and Amy chat with Aishwarya Veerabahu, a mycologist and PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She enlightens us with the issues surrounding the golden oyster mushroom, a representative of the fungi kingdom , one kingdom we haven't discussed.   We explore the rapid spread of the golden oyster mushroom across eastern North America, what happens when an invasive fungus moves into native woodland ecosystems, and why mushrooms growing on dead trees can tell us a lot about forest health. Plus, we somehow end up debating the difference between a rock pigeon and a mourning dove, so, bird experts we need your help to clear up the discussion about rock pigeons vs rock doves vs mourning doves in our Everyday Observations.

Resources

• Research publication: Invasive golden oyster mushrooms are disrupting native fungal communities as they spread throughout North America 
• University of Wisconsin Pringle Lab Golden Oyster Mushroom project
•  Golden oyster culinary background and how best to cook it from Chef Alan Bergo

Share your own Everyday Observation

Was there something about this topic we didn’t cover? See something cool in nature? Let us know! Send us your question or share your everyday nature observation with us at go.illinois.edu/EEconnect, and we may share it in a future blog or podcast.

Questions? We'd love to hear from you!
Abigail Garofalo aeg9@illinois.edu, Erin Garrett emedvecz@illinois.edu, Amy Lefringhouse heberlei@illinois.edu 

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