Sunday, August 3, 2008: 8:30 AM-5:00 PM
Wright B, Hilton
WK 10 - Sampling Fungi from the Environment: Challenges and Solutions
The Fungal Environmental Sampling and Informatics Network (FESIN; www.bio.utk.edu/fesin) is an NSF-funded network of mycologists and ecologists who are working together to evaluate the current use of genes as tools for fungal identification from environmental samples and to develop guidelines for the curation and naming of unknown fungi from environmental samples. This full-day workshop is for ecologists with some experience using molecular approaches for identification of microbes. The goals of the workshop are to highlight the key challenges of identifying fungi (and fungal sequences) collected in field studies and to work toward the development of strategies to overcome those challenges. This workshop will be the launching point for a "Methods in fungal ecology" wiki page to be served from the University of Tennessee with oversight by Dr. Karen Hughes. The workshop will include introductions to the challenges from both ecological and molecular genetic perspectives and guided discussion among workshop participants to address the following questions: (1) What are the limitations of rRNA genes and spacers for identification and what other loci might be used to supplement them? (2) How can we precisely, accurately, and efficiently identify and name environmental sequences of unknown fungi? (3) What are the gaps in current sequence databases, and how can we generate data to fill those gaps? (4) How should we curate and organize environmental samples and the data derived from them?
Organizer:	Thomas Bruns, University of California, Berkeley
Co-organizers:	Karen Hughes, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Elizabeth Arnold, University of Arizona
8:30 AM	[Abstract]		Limitations of current sequence data in fungal taxa guilds Rytas Vilgayls, Duke University
9:00 AM	[Abstract]		Metadata needed for environmental sequences A. Elizabeth Arnold, University of Arizona
9:30 AM	[Abstract]		Classifying environmental sequences: Why it's necessary and what needs to be done Thomas D. Bruns, University of California
10:00 AM			Discussion of sequence classification and data issues
10:20 AM			Break
10:40 AM	[Abstract]		Ideas for automated identification of fungal OTUs David Hibbett, Clark University
11:10 AM	[Abstract]		Automated classification and ideas for expansion of RDB to fungal ITS Jim Cole, Michigan State University
11:40 AM			Discussion of automated classification issues
12:00 PM			Lunch
1:00 PM	[Abstract]		Fungi as part of an integrated microbial community Noah Fierer, University of Colorado-Boulder
1:30 PM	[Abstract]		Nanotechnological and molecular approaches for studying fungal activity Kathleen K. Treseder, University of California, Irvine
2:00 PM			Multilocus identification of environmental samples: How can we move beyond rDNA loci and maintain an organismal focus?
2:30 PM			Break
2:45 PM			FESIN Steering Committee meeting

See more of Workshop

See more of The 93rd ESA Annual Meeting (August 3 -- August 8, 2008)