Mycology
This lab reminds me of the work we did in Friday Harbor (and the work the Zoobot group did on algae)--it is very observation based, and it centers around drawing fungal structures we see in lab under the microscope. I really enjoy this class, and am literally amazed at the importance of fungi, and the weird things that it can do. For example, ergotism (from ergot fungi) can cause hallucinations, and may have played a role in the Salem witch trials. Orchids cannot grow without a fungi (because the early stages of Orchids cannot photosynthesize), and we would not have plants as we know them to look like today without fungal relationships. It's crazy!! The lectures are pretty intense, with a lot of new vocabulary, but once you can actually see what we are talking about in the labs it makes everything much more interesting. Right now we are learning about lichens, which is a photobiont (an algae or cyanobacterium) + a fungi. These structures are super cool, and I remember learning the term "lichen" in Friday Harbor, so it seems like a full circle moment to be studying them now. Lichens can be used to determine the air quality as they absorb the pollutants, and are generally just a very unique organism.