Tylopilus potamogeton var. irengensis T.W. Henkel, Guyana

1) Macrofungal biodiversity of the Guiana Shield

      The Guiana Shield region of northeastern South America is unique both geologically and botanically and contains one of the largest remaining expanses of undisturbed tropical rain forest in the world. The flora of the region is only beginning to be thoroughly documented, and the fungi remain essentially undocumented. My current research in the country of Guyana involves basic collecting and alpha-taxonomic description of new taxa of basidiomycetes and ascomycetes, the development of local myco-florulas, and mycosociological comparison of macrofungal communities in various forest types in Guyana's Pakaraima Mountains. Exploration of these remote, densely forested mountains continues to yield a plethora of new species and genera of macrofungi, in particular those that are ectomycorrhizal associates of leguminous host trees in the genus Dicymbe (Caesalpiniaceae). In addition to new species discovery, multi-year plot studies are quantitatively assessing macrofungal species diversity in various forest types of the Pakaraima Mountains using fruiting body counts and below-ground molecular techniques.

Systematics publications currently resulting from the Guyana work are:

Henkel T.W., Aime M.C., Mehl H.K.  (Submitted) Craterellus excelsus sp. nov. from Guyana.  Persoonia
Fulgenzi T.D., Mayor JR, Henkel T.W., Halling R.E.  (Submitted)  New species of Boletellus from Guyana.  Mycologia
Mayor J.R., T.D., Fulgenzi, T.W. Henkel, and R.E. Halling. (Submitted)  Boletellus piakaius sp. nov. and a new distribution record for Boletellus ananas from Guyana. Mycological Progress
Largent D.L., Henkel T.W., Aime M.C., Baroni T.J. (In Press)  The Entolomataceae of the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. I. Four new species of Entoloma s.str.  Mycologia.
Fulgenzi T.D., Henkel T.W., Halling R.E. 2007.  Tylopilus orsonianus sp. nov. and Tylopilus eximius from Guyana.  Mycologia 99: 622-627.
Aime M.C., Ryvarden L., Henkel T.W. 2007.  Studies in Neotropical polypores 22. Additional new and rare species from Guyana.  Synopsis Fungorum 23: 15-31.
Henkel T.W., Aime M.C., Mehl H.K., Miller S.L. 2006.  Cantharellus pleurotoides, a new and unusual basidiomycete from Guyana. Mycological Research 110: 1409-1412.
Henkel T.W., James T.Y., Miller S.L., Aime M.C., Miller O.K. Jr. 2006. The mycorrhizal status of Pseudotulostoma volvata (Elaphomycetaceae, Eurotiales, Ascomycota).  Mycorrhiza 16: 241-244.
Henkel T.W., Meszaros R., Aime M.C., Kennedy A. 2005.  New species of Clavulina from the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana.  Mycological Progress 4: 342-350.
Hernandez J.R., Aime M.C., Henkel T.W. 2005.  The rust fungi (Uredinales) of Guyana. Sydowia 57: 189-222.  
Henkel, T.W. , P. Roberts, & M.C. Aime. 2004. Sebacinoid species from the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. Mycotaxon 89(2): 433-439.
Miller, S.L., and T.W. Henkel.  2004. Biology and molecular ecology of subiculate Lactarius species from Guyana.  Memoirs of the New York Botanic Garden 89: 297-312.
Thacker, J., and T.W. Henkel. 2004. New species of Clavulina from Guyana. Mycologia 96(3): 650-657. (download PDF)
Miller, S.L., and T.W. Henkel. 2004. Russulaceae of the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana.  II.  The genus Russula. Mycological Memoirs (submitted)
Matheny, P. B., M.C. Aime, M.C., and T.W. Henkel. 2003. New species of Inocybe from Dicymbe forests of Guyana. Mycological Research 107(4): 495-505. (download PDF)
Aime, M.C., T.W. Henkel & L. Ryvarden. 2003. Studies in neotropical polypores 15. New and interesting species from Guyana. Mycologia 95(4): 614-619. (download PDF)
Miller S.L., M.C. Aime, and T.W. Henkel. 2002. The Russulaceae of the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. I. New species of pleurotoid Lactarius. Mycologia 94:545-553. (download PDF)
Henkel, T.W. 2001. Tylopilus pakaraimensis sp. nov., a new bolete in Tylopilus section Potamogetones from Guyana. Mycotaxon 78: 105-114.
Miller, O.K., Jr., T.W. Henkel , T.Y. James, & S.L. Miller. 2001. Pseudotulostoma, a new genus in the Elaphomycetaceae from Guyana. Mycological Research 105 (10): 1268-1272. (download PDF)
Simmons, C., T.W. Henkel, & C. Bas. 2001. The genus Amanita in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. Persoonia 17(4): 563-582.
Henkel, T.W. , M.C. Aime, & S.L. Miller. 2000. Systematics of pleurotoid Russulaceae from Guyana and Japan, with notes on their ectomycorrhizal status. Mycologia 92(6): 1119-1132. (download PDF)
Henkel, T.W. 1999. New taxa and distribution records for Tylopilus from Dicymbe forests of Guyana. Mycologia 91(4): 655-665. (download PDF)

Mimi Chin with Craterellus excelsus Henkel et Aime, Guyana

2) Ectomycorrhizal ecology of the neotropical lowlands

      Ectomycorrhizal (EM) associations, while widespread in temperate forests, are poorly known in neotropical rain forests. Recent explorations in the Pakaraima Mountains of western Guyana have revealed unique primary forests heavily dominated by a single species of EM leguminous tree, Dicymbe corymbosa Spruce ex Benth. (Caesalpiniaceae). Dicymbe reaches extreme levels of dominance in stands where it occurs, which are sharply juxtaposed with tree-diverse mixed rain forests lacking in EM species. Transect and plot studies have demonstrated that the local occurrence if Dicymbe monodominant stands is not related to mineral soil conditions. Dicymbe corymbosa has a suite of unique life history characteristics including natural coppicing, litter trapping physiognomy, irregular mast fruiting, and the ectomycorrhizal habit which contribute to its ability to dominate forests in an otherwise tree-diverse landscape. Current studies are examining the relative contribution of these life history traits to the competitive success of D. corymbosa. In particular, the hypothesis that Dicymbe ectomycorrhizae are "short cycling" nutrients directly from litter to the host trees is being tested. These studies have important bearing on the causes and consequences of tropical monodominance, a currently dynamic field of tropical ecology.

Ecology publications include:

Degagne R.S., Henkel T.W., Steinberg S.J. (Submitted)  Preliminary assessment of the distribution of monodominant Dicymbe (Caesalpiniaceae) forests in Guyana using satellite imagery. Biotropica
Woolley L.P., Henkel T.W., Sillett S.C. 2007.  Reiteration in the tropical monodominant tree Dicymbe corymbosa (Caesalpiniaceae) and its potential adaptive significance.  Biotropica doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2007.00348.x (download PDF)
Henkel T.W., James T.Y., Miller S.L., Aime M.C., Miller O.K. Jr. 2006. The mycorrhizal status of Pseudotulostoma volvata (Elaphomycetaceae, Eurotiales, Ascomycota).  Mycorrhiza 16: 241 244.
Mayor J.R., Henkel T.W. 2005.  Do ectomycorrhizas alter leaf litter decomposition in monodominant tropical forests?  New Phytologist 169: 579-588. (download PDF)
Henkel T.W., Mayor J.R., and Woolley L.P. 2005.  Mast fruiting and seedling survival of the ectomycorrhizal, monodominant Dicymbe corymbosa (Caesalpiniaceae) in Guyana. New Phytologist 167: 543-556. (download PDF)
Henkel T.W. 2003. Monodominance in the ectomycorrhizal Dicymbe corymbosa (Caesalpiniaceae) from Guyana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19(4): 417-437. (download PDF)
Henkel T.W. , Terborgh J., and Vilgalys R. 2002. Ectomycorrhizal fungi and their leguminous hosts in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. Mycological Research 106:516-532. (download PDF)
Henkel, T.W. 2001. Systematics and ecology of ectomycorrhizal fungal associated with Dicymbe spp. in Guyana. Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Leonard Williams, Patamona tribe

3) Ethnomycology of Amazonia

      My research in this area has involved documentation of uses of fungi by indigenous peoples of northeastern Amazon region, including Guyana and Brazil. One project investigated the microbiology of fermented beverage production among the Wapisiana Amerindians of southwestern Guyana. A particular Wapisiana beverage, parakari, is made from cassava tubers and utilizes a complex dual fermentation technique involving a primary starch hydrolysis by Rhizopus (Zygomycota), much in the manner that indigenous rice wines are made in southeast Asia. Parakari is the first documented use of Rhizopus for starch hydrolysis among New World indigenous peoples, and represents an independent domestication of this fungus for practical application.
       Another project is examining wild mushroom consumption among the Patamona Amerindians of Guyana's Pakaraima Mountains. The use of mushrooms as food among indigenous Amazonians is poorly documented, and limited to studies with the Yanomami of Venezuela. Current studies with the Patamona indicate that at least a dozen wild mushroom species are utilized seasonally as food. Several of these are widespread saprotrophic species that are also used by the Yanomami. The interesting feature is that the Patamona also utilize a number of endemic ectomycorrhizal (EM) mushrooms occurring only in EM Dicymbe forests found in their area. Ectomycorrhizal fungi eaten by the Patamona include Boletellus ananas (Curt.) Murrill (Boletaceae), Amanita perphaea Simmons, Bas, & Henkel, Clavulina kunmudlutse Thacker & Henkel nom. prov. (Clavulinaceae), and Clavulina esculenta Thacker & Henkel nom. prov.. Interestingly, two cantharelloid fungi, Cantharellus guyanensis Mont. and Craterellus altogriseus sp. nov., fruit abundantly in the Patamona area but are not eaten by them, though they are consumed avidly by the visiting mycologists!
 

Estine Andrew preparing to cook Clavulina esculenta sp. nov in leaf bundle, Guyana

Ethnomycology publications:

Henkel T.W. 2005.  Parakari, an indigenous fermented cassava beverage utilizing amylolytic Rhizopus in Guyana.  Mycologia 97: 1-11. (download PDF)
Henkel, T.W. , Aime M.C., Chin M., & Andrew C.. 2004. Edible mushrooms from Guyana. The Mycologist 18(3) : 104-111. (download PDF)

 

                                           Essequibo River, Guyana

4) Macromycetes of the Arcata Community Forest (ACF), Humboldt Co., California.

      In collaboration with Dr. David Largent I am coordinating sampling of macromycetes in various plots of the ACF. The objective of this study is to provide forest managers with an increasingly comprehensive list of macromycete species in various stand and management types based on multi-year sampling.

5) Forest Pathogen Survey of Old-Growth Mixed Conifer Forest, Six Rivers National Forest (SRNF).

      I am currently reconnoitering areas of the SRNF on Horse Mountain with stands of old-growth Douglas fir/White fir to establish permanent study plots to assess tree pathogen incidence and epidemiology. My primary objective for doing this is to create a research matrix for senior thesis students to participate in a long-term forest pathology study.