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

About this episode

The episode discusses the invasive golden oyster mushroom and its impact on native ecosystems with mycologist 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…

People in this episode

Hosts: Abigail Garofalo, Amy Lefringhouse, Erin Garrett

Guest: Aishwarya Veerabahu

Topics covered

• invasive species
• fungi
• ecosystems
• forest health
• mycology
• golden oyster mushroom

Keywords

• golden oyster mushroom
• invasive fungus
• woodland ecosystems
• forest health
• mycology
• eastern North America

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Pringle Lab, Chef Alan Bergo

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