Fungi

Fungi are essential to healthy ecosystems. Some function as degraders, helping to break down fallen leaves and trees, while others work with living plants, trading minerals they collect from the soil for food. There are also some fungi that are pathogens, consuming living matter (plants mostly).

Join Dr. Matt Smith, a mycologist with the University of Florida, and his team as they search the grounds of Grassy Pond for fungi that produce large fruiting bodies, like mushrooms, puffballs, stink horns, earth stars, conks, and coral fungi. Stop by the fungal identification station to learn how to identify fungi to species, and give some of the techniques a try.