Christian Schwarz

Making maps of the distributions of organisms is one of the most fascinating topics in all of natural history. The theory of island biogeography serves as an ideal starting point in understanding broader patterns of dispersal, extinction, and adaptation. How do fungi behave in comparison to other groups of organisms? In what ways do island-dwelling individuals differ from their mainland brethren? We'll explore all these topics and more!

By now, almost everyone's heard of "Wood Wide Webs" — invisible forest networks through which trees, fungi, and other organisms communicate and exchange resources. This concept has been covered extensively in mainstream news and popular science outlets, and has even made its way into movies and fiction! But where did this idea come from? What do we actually know about how it works? We'll talk about the history of the metaphor, take a look at the existing body of research, examine recent challenges to the idea from modern findings, and think about what directions future investigations might need to take.

Over the past two years, the CA FUNDIS organization has undertaken a remarkable effort to get to know the mushrooms of California more deeply. We’ll talk about the results of this effort by reviewing some of some of the  discoveries made by this dedicated crew, and talk about how this non-profit organization has accomplished so much in such a short time. We’ll end by discussing how you can help support us, or even get involved directly. You’ll come away with a sneak peek at some cutting-edge knowledge about the mushrooms in our amazing state.

Aotearoa — the land more commonly known as New Zealand is young in many ways: In recent geologic history, it nearly drowned after splitting off from the Australian continent, and it was the last bit of Earth’s land to be inhabited by human beings. This island nation is a wild and wondrous place — very different from anything familiar to a resident of the Northern Hemisphere. We’ll talk about the holistic ecology of the place, using fungi as a lens to understand the bigger picture. 

In this talk, we'll explore broad bioregions of the United States from the perspective of mushrooms (which sometimes align with bioregions of plants and animals... but not always!).

The theory of island biogeography serves as an ideal starting point in understanding broader patterns of dispersal, extinction, and adaptation.

Learn about new species of boletes, hallucinogenic cicadas, matsutake taxonomy and discoveries of East coast mushrooms spreading into California. / Neurogenesis from Psilocybin and Analogs: A Paradigm Shift in Medicine?

A Mycological Study in Risk Assessment in a world that is rapidly changing.

The life history of Medicinal Polypores

A vision for phasing out draconian anti-mushroom forgaging laws