The 17th New Zealand Fungal Foray, Katikati
The 2003 Foray was held over the week 5-10 May 2003, based at the Aongatete Lodge, inland from Katikati.
One of the reasons for choosing the Katikati area for this year’s foray was the lack of collections in the New Zealand Fungal Herbarium from native forests in the Bay of Plenty region. A search of the herbarium database for fungi from native forests in the Bay of Plenty area revealed only 100 species. Undoubtedly, the herbarium records provide a very incomplete picture of the fungal diversity of this region. For example, many of the species mentioned in Shirley Kerr’s ‘Exploring the Kaimai Bush’ website (www.kaimaibush.co.nz) are not in the herbarium. This situation highlights the need for a formal repository for recording sightings as opposed to specimens of fungi. Despite being incomplete, the New Zealand Fungal Herbarium data at present provides the only authoritative, publically accessible source of data on the distribution of New Zealand’s fungi with a country-wide focus.
The Lodge proved an ideal venue, being central to the collecting sites targeted, as well as providing the facilities needed to house and feed the 49 participants, the space to examine and identify the collections made, and the recently constructed hall provided a venue for the Mycology Colloquium.
The collecting table |
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Students examining samples |
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The main sites sampled were the tracks around Aongatete Lodge, at the end of Lindemann Rd, at the end of Hot Springs Rd, Otanewainuku, Puketoki, dunes on Waihi Beach dunes, and the tracks to Orokawa Bay. Other sites visited included an orchard near Bethlehem and CHH Athenree Forest.
Weather conditions meant that the autumn of 2003 was unusually poor for collecting fungi, the season being later than usual, and the dry conditions meaning that many collections were small and in poor condition. Despite this, 146 species of fungi new to the Bay of Plenty were collected. Prior to the Foray, 100 species of fungi were known from the Foray area. During the Foray, 153 species of fungi were found, all but 6 of them being new records for the area (click here to see list of species found).
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| Lachnum species - Click to enlarge |
Fungi of interest included an undescribed Lachnum species. This small, dark, hairy discomycete was collected from the fronds of Cyathea medullaris. This fungus has only ever been found once before, on tree ferns fronds in Queensland. Many of New Zealand’s discomycete fungi also occur in Australia, and further collecting will undoubtedly reveal more such ‘Australian’ species in New Zealand.
Amongst the small hyphomycetes were 6 species previously unreported for New Zealand, and the second only record of the still undescribed Zanclospora ‘ureweri’, a fungus first discovered during the 16th Foray at the Urewera National Park.
One ‘sand dune’ fungus was new to New Zealand – the mushroom Psathyrella ammophila was found on the dunes at Waihi Beach. There are a group of mushrooms and puffballs specialised to life in sand dunes. Past collecting has shown Matakana Island to be particularly rich in these fungi, but unfortunately we did not get to the Island during this year’s Foray.
One of the aims of the Foray is to increase public awareness and understanding about the fungi of New Zealand. The 17th Foray achieved this through news items run by TV3, TVNZ, Radio Rhema, and Radio New Zealand, and visits to the Foray by Matahui Rd School, Katikati College, and Junior College (Auckland). Articles about the Foray appeared in New Zealand Growing Today (August 2003), Forest and Bird (August 2003), the Hauraki Herald (6 May 2003), and the Bay of Plenty Times.
One day of the Foray is set aside for the Mycology Colloquium, a ‘mini-conference’ on all aspects of mycology. This year’s Colloquium included 13 talks:
Speaker |
Title |
Toni Atkinson, Otago University |
Inside the Ascomycotina: woody decay Lasiosphaeriaceae of New Zealand |
Peter Austwick, Auckland |
Fungi I have known |
Peter Buchanan, Landcare Research, Auckland |
Conservation of fungi |
Pam Catcheside, Adelaide |
Fungi-hunting in South Australia |
Jerry Cooper, Landcare Research, Lincoln |
The New Zealand MAF Unwanted Organisms Register of Names - a critical assessment |
Rebekah Fuller, Auckland University |
Matauranga Maori o Harore |
Ian Hood, Forest Research, Rotorua |
Decay fungi at Whirinaki |
Don Horne, Hamilton |
Short history of fungi in the Scott Reserve |
Dan Mahoney, Wellington |
More dung fungi |
David Orlovich, Otago University |
Molecular diversity and the failure of taxonomy |
Tod Ramsfield, Forest Research, Rotorua |
Gall rust of pines |
Geoff Ridley, Forest Research, Rotorua |
Dots, spots, lumps and ... oh! what's that smell? |
Stephen Whitton, Landcare Research, Auckland |
Favolaschia calocera - the weed |