While they’re harder to find under the layer of snow, fungi are all around us in the Northwoods.
“There are fungi everywhere,” said Tom Volk.
Volk first became fascinated with fungi as an undergrad.
“I took a course in college on fungi and I found out you could get free food and I thought that was pretty attractive thing for a college student,” said Volk.
Now a professor of biology, Volk teaches at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse.
He says learning about fungi is key to understanding the woods and world around you.
“In order to learn about what’s going on in the environment, fungi are critical to that. There are a lot of ecological roles that they play in the environment, such as one example is mycorrhizing. This is the association of fungi with the roots of almost all plants,” said Volk.
These are the kinds of things you can learn from Volk at Wednesday night’s Science on Tap-Minocqua. He’ll talk specifically to mushrooms and other types of fungi you can find in the Northwoods.
“Where fungi live, what they do, what they look like, and some of the edible and poisonous kind of things,” said Volk.
You can watch his presentation live Wednesday night starting at 6:30. You can find the link on Science on Tap Minocqua website.
