- Speaker: Heather Dawson – Truffle diversity of Willamette Valley oak savanna
- When: Wednesday, Feb 19, 2025 at 7pm
- Where: In person at the Amazon Community Center
- Also live stream: CMS YouTube Channel (open and click to set a reminder)
Oregon white oak savanna is an endangered habitat in the Willamette Valley and supports high biodiversity, including fungi. Oaks form beneficial relationships with many different fungi, some of which form truffles. Truffle research in the Pacific Northwest has largely focused on conifer habitat, with less known about truffle ecology in oak habitat. While there are no native oak-associated truffles in our region used for culinary purposes, there are many different species with other important ecosystem roles. Modern management of remnant oak savanna habitat often includes the re-introduction of fire based on a historical fire regime, and many plants are fire-adapted in this system but the response of fungi to prescribed burning is unknown. This talk covers the truffle diversity of Oregon white oak savanna with a focus on how fire may affect these fungi.
About the Speaker
Heather Dawson is a PhD student at the University of Oregon currently studying truffles in oak savanna. She has spent the last 5 years following her truffle dogs around the woods learning first-hand about the vast number of truffle species that are easily detected by a canine nose. Her current truffle dog, Rye, has an exceptional talent for generalizing truffle aroma and has found countless truffles from around 50 fungal genera. Given the challenges in studying these hidden fungi, Rye’s abilities demonstrate an exciting method to expand current knowledge of truffle diversity and ecology. Heather’s oak savanna research is supported by the Freeman Rowe Scholarship which she received in 2024 from CMS.
