Neil McArthur

Gary A. Laursen

For the seriously dedicated as well as the merely curious ’shroomer, Alaska’s Mushrooms is a wide-ranging guide to the fungi of the Last Frontier. The book, featuring detailed descriptions of 114 species, includes: color photographs; family and common names; genus and species; striking field characters; both a macro- & micro-description; habitat and role; edibility, taste, and odor; look-alikes, and comments. This comprehensive collection also provides: information on mushroom seasons and habitats hints for collecting mushrooms for food and study tips on how to tell the real mushrooms from their “imposters” directions for making spore prints (an essential test for identifying mushrooms) hundreds of black-and-white line drawings a section listing all poisonous mushrooms by toxin groups a list of frequently asked questions a range map of Alaska’s biogeographic zones Alaska’s Mushrooms provides authoritative natural history, informative color photographs, and black-and-white line drawings for clear identification, and lively notes from the field. It’s a must-have for anyone who has a passion for hunting mushrooms.

A Wide-Ranging Guide

Alaska's Mushrooms

Joseph F. Ammirati

Scott A. Redhead

During the summer of 1980, the First International symposium on Arctic and Alpine Mycology (ISAM-I) was held at the then extant Naval Arctic Research Laboratory near Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A., well within the Arctic Circle (Laursen and Ammirati, Arctic and Alpine Mycology. The First International symposium on Arcto-Alpine Mycology. Univ. Wash. Press, 1982). The facility is currently owned and operated by the Utkeagvik Inupiat community and is named the National Academic and Research Laboratory, thus retaining its acronym NARL. Twenty-five scientists participated in that historic first meeting. Their interests in the fungi spanned a vast geographic area of cold dominated habitats in both the northern and southern hemispheres that included four continents (N. and S. America, Eurasia,and Antarctica), nine countries, and numerous islands ranging from Greenland to Jan Mayen in the Svalbard group. ISAM-I helped to develop ongoing interests and initiate others. This is what ISAM-I founders hoped would happen. Asa result, the organizing committee for ISAM-II was formed. Its mandate was to: involve a maximum of one third new participants in future ISAM meetings: divide the responsibility for organizing future meetings at sites located in areas of interest to research thrusts in Arctic and alpine environments: keep the number of participants small enough to ensure manageability, taking full advantage of field collecting opportunities with minimal complications and cost.

Arctic and Alpine Mycology II

Rodney D. Seppelt

With Common Interior Alaska Cryptogams, Gary A. Laursen and Rodney Seppelt offer the first field guide to cryptogams of the Denali National Park and Preserve. Useful to both lay and professional investigators, this fully illustrated compendium covers mushroom fungi, lichenized fungi, lichenicolous fungi, slime molds, mosses, and liverworts. This field guide to commonly seen cryptogams will provide a basis for understanding their vast diversity of taxa, speciation, edibility, relative abundance, and utility, as well as the ecological roles played by these organisms.

Gary A. Laursen

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