Gift will finance study on fungi
12th February 2010
Cairncross Chat with Bob Taylor
Recently Gretel Pickering, Patron of Friends of Mary Cairncross Association Inc.made a further substantial donation to the Association.
This together with previous donations and supported by the Management Committee of the Reserve, has allowed the Association to engage the services of Dr Sapphire McMullan-Fisher, a mycologist, to survey and identify macrofungi in the Reserve between February and August 2010. On completion Sapphire will produce a report on her findings and a fungal display book
Sapphire received her doctorate in 2008 from the University of Tasmania. The title of her thesis was ‘Surrogates for cryptogam conservation – association between mosses, macrofungi, vascular plants and environmental variables’. Sapphire hopes that by educating people about the important roles that fungi play in ecosystems that this will help encourage their conservation.
This is the first ever fungi survey in the Reserve which Sapphire will commence immediately to take advantage of the wet conditions we hopefully will experience in the coming months
The Association recently paid in excess of $3000 (also from Gretel’s donations) towards a Richmond Birdwing butterfly interpretive sign It will shortly be installed adjacent to the teaching platform in the picnic area where a number of host vines for the butterfly have been planted.
If you are interested in volunteering at the Reserve, phone 5429 6122 or 5435 2591, and for more information on what is happening, visit www.mary-cairncross.com.au.
