I’ve always been fascinated by mushrooms, one could even say I’m a fun-guy! I love all living things but mushrooms have always been the coolest in my eyes.
Fungi make super interesting fruits called mushrooms. These come in all sorts of shapes and colours, some even glow in the dark, turn into black goop or turn insects into zombies! But fungi don’t just make cool mushrooms. In fact, the type of fungi I work on are the largest living things on Earth! Mycorrhizal fungi form massive underground networks that share their nutrients with the plants above ground in exchange for food.
As much as I would like to frolic around in the forest all day, I actually spend a lot of my time in the lab, looking for fungi in the roots of plants. My work will hopefully help people restore native forests with the plants AND fungi that call it home.
But I didn’t always know I would study fungi. As a kid I wanted to be a vet. I love all plants and animals and knew I wanted to work with them. While trying to decide between plants and animals, I figured I could do something in the middle, like fungi! I’ve changed my mind a lot, but that’s half the fun. I’ve been to three different schools to learn three different sciences and wouldn’t change a thing.
