​THE AUSTRALASIAN MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETY
One of the aims of AMS is to make Mycological Research more accessible and to amplify the efforts of mycologists in Australasia and around the world. Join us for some of the latest and most exciting mycology-focused seminars, in the comfort of your home or office! You'll be able to learn from experts in medical mycology, biotechnology, environmental microbiology, plant and animal pathology, taxonomy and systematics, and phylogenetics. Seminars normally occur on the last Wednesday of each month at 12:00pm (Sydney time), 2:00pm (New Zealand time) with any exceptions highlighted. Talks are 30 minutes long and are followed by 15 minutes of questions from the audience. Zoom links are provided prior to the date where you can register to attend.
​Seminars are free for AMS members and the public, but we encourage non-members to make a donation (suggested $5) to our society via PayPal. You can do that by clicking on the PayPal button:
If you'd like to join AMS, you can sign up here. You'll get access to a range of other members-only benefits, including seminar recordings.
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If you are interested in presenting your mycological research, please get in touch with the AMS council.
Upcoming AMS Virtual Seminar
26 June 2024 (Wednesday) 12 pm AEDT / 2 pm NZDT :
Dr Mahajabeen Padamsee
New Zealand Fungarium, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research
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TOPIC: Myrtle rust is the latest in a series of invaders expanding New Zealand’s rust fungal species list
Summary: About 300 rust species are known in New Zealand, with approximately half comprising native rusts (usually pathogenic on native plants) and half being introduced rusts (usually pathogenic on exotic plants). Work on a rust mycota of New Zealand has resulted in new collection localities of many species with a conservation status of data deficient. Molecular analyses have resulted in 26 new species of rust fungi recently discovered. Two species are transferred into the genus Milesina, three into Uromyces, one into Coleosporium, and six into Puccinia, either following discovery of the sexual (telial) stage of these rusts or considering the most appropriate sexual genus. However, one new species of Aecidium poses a conundrum. Apart from one new species on the introduced Fuchsia magellanica all the rusts are considered native. The number of non-native rusts has been rising steadily from 33 to over 150 in the last 150 years with the arrival in May 2017 of Austropuccinia psidii (myrtle rust) being one of the most significant invasions to occur in New Zealand and is anticipated to have substantial biodiversity flow-on effects. Austropuccinia psidii has a known host range of over 350 species in Myrtaceae and is already causing severe species declines in Australia where it has been since 2010. However, unlike other non-native rust fungi, A. psidii is primarily found on native species of Myrtaceae in NZ.
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Registration link here
Talk details to be confirmed for the following speakers:
28 August 2024: Dr Nicola Day, Victoria University of Wellington
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Past AMS Virtual Seminar
2022
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October: Assistant Prof Jessie Uehling Watch on YouTube
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University
​Bacterial endosymbionts in the Mucoromycota fungi, lessons from comparative genomics
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September: Professor Roger Shivas (This talk was not recorded)
University of Southern Queensland
Saving planet Earth - re-evaluating taxonomic best practices
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August: Dr Anthony Young Watch on YouTube
University of Queensland
​A Streak Through History: Cracking the Sugarcane Chlorotic Streak Disease Riddle
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July: Drs Krista Plett and Sophia Callaghan Watch on YouTube
NSW Department of Primary Industries, Biosecurity and Food Safety
​Biosecurity Behind the Scenes
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June: Dr Camille Truong Watch on YouTube
​Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Australia.
​Ectomycorrhizal fungi and the nitrogen economy of Nothofagus
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​May: Dr Kar-Chun Tan (KC) Watch on YouTube
​The Centre for Crop Disease Management at Curtin University
Untangling the ‘Gordian knot’ – How to unravel a complex fungal disease of wheat by understanding its game of effector hide-and-seek
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April: Dr Alistair McTaggart Watch on YouTube
​Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland
Sex and Drugs
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March: Dr Peri Tobias Watch on YouTube
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney
A chromosome-level genome sheds new light on the mating strategy for Austropuccinia psidii (myrtle rust)
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February: Wayne Boatwright Watch an Extended Version on YouTube
President of the Queensland Mycological Society
Collecting and Describing Fungi - Citizen Science in Action
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January: Dr Jonathan Plett Watch on YouTube
Senior lecturer in plant-microbe interactions at Western Sydney University
Ecological Mergers: exploring how ectomycorrhizal fungi use secreted signals to negotiate host colonization
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Want more interesting fungi story? Join us now to get access to the latest video links!
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2024
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May: Dr Meghann Thai Join us now to get access
The University of Sydney
Bacterial-fungal interactions in Agaricus bisporus compost
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April: Dr Adam Frew Join us now to get access
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Shared host, divided interests: Interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and insect herbivory
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March: Dr Eric C Pereira Join us now to get access
Australian National University
A Hidden Interplay between Plants and Microorganisms
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February: Dr Marc Freestone Join us now to get access
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Australian National University
Understanding orchid mycorrhizal fungi to save threatened orchids from extinction
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January: Dr Romina Gazis Join us now to get access
Plant Diagnostic Clinic, University of Florida, USA
Tropical Plant Pathology: A Challenging but Rewarding Field!
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2023
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November: Allison Mertin, 2022 AMS research grant awardee. Watch on YouTube
The University of Melbourne
Diversity, biology and biogeography of native Australian grass seed fungi for improving restoration outcomes
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October: Dr Mary Hansen Watch on YouTube
Edith Cowan University
Impacts on atmospheric fungal populations
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August: Dr Felipe Albornoz Watch on YouTube
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Differential effects of different types of ecosystem degradation on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in temperate eucalypt woodlands
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July: Dr Hagai Shemesh Watch on YouTube
Tel-Hai College, Israel
The effect of ectomycorrhizal fungi on ecological processes at varying temporal and spatial scales
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June: Dr César Marín Watch on YouTube
Universidad Santo Tomás, Chile
Southern and global mycorrhizal collectives
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May: Dr Anna Hopkins Watch on YouTube
Edith Cowan University
The impact of disturbance on soil fungal communities: drought, fire and digging mammals
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April: Prof Bernard Slippers Watch on YouTube
Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria
Ecology and evolution of the Sirex noctilio – Amylostereum areolatum symbiosis, and its relevance to biological control
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March: Prof Ian Dickie Watch on YouTube
University of Canterbury
Ripples in the net: Vegetation change and fungal networks
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February: Dr Kylie Ireland Watch on YouTube
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia
Polyphagous shot-hole borer in Western Australia: host range, distribution and response activities
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January: Dr Carlos Aguilar Watch on YouTube
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Australia
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Functional groups shape the size and function of spores across the Fungal Kingdom
2021
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January 2021: Dr Stephanie Watts-Fawkes, Watch on YouTube
Research Officer, Crop Nutrition, NSW Department of Primary Industries
Identifying and characterising a zinc transporter involved in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis
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February 2021: Matthias Johannes Salomon, Watch on YouTube
PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide
Global analysis of microbial inoculants containing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: 84% of the tested products contained no active propagules
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March 2021: A/Prof Amanda Black
Bioprotection Research Centre, Lincoln University
Genomes to Giants: kauri die back and the fight to save these ancient trees
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April 2021: Professor Ana Traven
Infection and Immunity Research Program at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University
Metabolic drives of host-pathogen interactions in fungal infections
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May 2021: Dr Sarah Sapsford, Watch on YouTube
Fungal and Disease Ecology, University of Canterbury
How fungi can change ecosystems
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June 2021: Professor Treena Burgess, Watch on YouTube
Research and Innovation, Murdoch University
Urban forests; bridge-heads and sentinels for Phytophthora introductions
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July 2021: A/Prof Jeff Powell, Watch on YouTube
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
​Switching partners - the roles and relationships of dual mycorrhizal systems for eucalypts
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August 2021: Dr Kentaro Hosaka, Watch on YouTube
National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan​
Natural history of blue entolomas, from Japan and the world
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September 2021: Dr Yu Pei Tan
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
Looking in the cupboard: the hidden diversity of microfungi in Australia.
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October 2021​: Prof. Levente Kiss, Watch on YouTube
University of Southern Queensland​
Mycoparasitic fungi in action
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December 2021: AMS Research Grant Awardees, Watch on YouTube
Dr Elaine Davison, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University; Research Associate of the Western Australian Herbarium
Relationships in Amanita, with particular reference to local species
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Rebecca Jane Webb, PhD candidate, James Cook University
Glutathione biosynthesis in the amphibian chytrid fungus
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