Stop before picking it. Look at habitat, substrate, nearby trees, growth habit, and surrounding specimens.
CITIZEN SCIENCE Make the mushroom useful after you leave the woods.A good fungal record preserves more than a name. Photographs, field observations, location, specimen data, and a properly dried collection can turn one mushroom into evidence that remains useful for years. A MUSHROOM IS TEMPORARY The record does not have to be.Fungal fruitbodies may last days. A well-documented observation or preserved voucher can remain useful indefinitely. Citizen scientists help document which fungi occur in Alabama, where they occur, when they fruit, what habitats they occupy, and how their morphology varies. Some observations can go further. When a collection is documented carefully and preserved well, it may become material for herbarium study, DNA sequencing, taxonomic work, or future research. THE BASIC WORKFLOW Find → Photograph → Record → Collect → Dry → SubmitThe order matters. Several of the most useful characters disappear once the specimen has been picked, handled, transported, or dried. Document the mushroom in place, then record the structures needed for identification. Write down the information a photograph cannot preserve: odor, staining, substrate, associated trees, and locality. Remove the whole fruitbody carefully, including the complete stipe base and any buried structures. Dehydrate promptly at low temperature until the entire specimen is completely cracker dry. Keep specimen, field record, photographs, and observation number linked together. FIVE PHOTOGRAPHS TO GET EVERY TIME Show the mushroom from the woods to the base.More photographs are fine. What matters is that the useful structures are actually visible, sharp, and large enough to evaluate. 
01 — IN SITU
Before you touch it.Photograph the fungus where it grew. Include enough surrounding habitat to show whether it is on soil, litter, exposed wood, buried wood, moss, dung, or another substrate. Nearby trees can be important. If you cannot identify them, photograph bark and leaves.
02 — CAP
Get close.Record color, texture, scales, fibers, zones, cracking, moisture, veil remnants, and other surface features while they are fresh. 
03 — ENTIRE STIPE
Keep the base.Dig rather than snap. Bulbs, volvas, rooting stipes, basal mycelium, and color at the base can carry critical identification characters. 
04 — UNDERSIDE
Photograph the fertile surface.Show gills, pores, teeth, folds, or smooth surfaces. For gilled fungi, include the point where the gills meet the stipe.
05 — SPECIMEN + RECORD
Connect the mushroom to its data.Photograph the collected specimen with its field datasheet or temporary collection number. This prevents photographs and physical collections from becoming separated later. WHEN THE MUSHROOM GIVES YOU MORE Photograph the characters that change.Does it ooze?Some gilled fungi release latex when damaged. Record its initial color and whether the latex or surrounding tissue changes color with time. Does handling change it?Rub or lightly damage a defined area and photograph any staining reaction as it develops. What is inside?A vertical section can reveal internal color, chambering, context thickness, staining, tubes, cavities, or other hidden structure. Show variation.If young and mature fruitbodies occur together, photograph several. Age can transform a mushroom dramatically. 
RECORD THE CHANGE Timing can be a character.A reaction may be immediate, slow, localized, or transient. Photograph the original state first, then record what changes and approximately how long it takes. “Bruises blue” is less informative than knowing exactly where, how strongly, and how quickly it happened. THE FIELD DATA SLIP Write down what the dried specimen cannot tell us.The AMS field slip keeps a specimen tied to its photographs, locality, collector, identification, and the characters that may disappear after collection. 
One small slip keeps the physical specimen, photographs, and digital record connected. Fill it out while the collection is still fresh. Several useful characters—odor, staining, latex, nearby trees, and substrate—may be difficult or impossible to reconstruct later.
Give the collection a temporary number.
Use the same number with the specimen and its photographs until a permanent collection or voucher number is assigned.
Record where it was found.
Date, state, county, collector, and the associated iNaturalist observation preserve the collection's geographic context.
Use the checklist.
Photograph the top, underside, stem, base, staining or bruising, latex when present, nearby trees, and the specimen with the slip.
Describe habit and substrate.
Record whether specimens are single or grouped and whether they occur on soil, hardwood, conifer, litter, moss, dung, or another substrate.
Record what will disappear.
Odor, bruising, staining, latex, texture, and changing colors are much easier to record before drying. PUT THE RECORD ONLINE Use iNaturalist as the observation record.Upload the strongest photographs from the collection and preserve the field information that will help other people evaluate the identification.
Upload the observation.
Use your best photographs and enter the most specific identification you can support. “Fungi” is preferable to guessing.
Add the field information.
Substrate, habitat, nearby trees, growth habit, odor, bruising, latex, and other useful characters belong in the observation notes.
Preserve the location.
Make sure location data are captured. Precise locality is important when an observation becomes a scientific voucher.
Add it to the AMS project.
Collections intended for the Alabama Fungal Diversity Project should be added to the AMS Fungal Diversity Project — Collection project.
Copy the observation number.
Write the iNaturalist observation number onto the specimen's field record so the physical collection and online record remain linked. COLLECTING A VOUCHER Take enough mushroom to preserve the evidence.Keep the complete base.Use a knife or trowel and excavate carefully rather than breaking the mushroom off at ground level. Choose useful material.Mature, intact specimens generally preserve more diagnostic information than old, decayed, heavily damaged, or badly insect-eaten material. One collection, one identity.Keep different collections separate and maintain the temporary number or datasheet with each specimen. Know where you can collect.Land ownership, park rules, permits, and collecting regulations still apply when specimens are intended for scientific use. PRESERVATION Dry it quickly. Dry it completely.Moisture is the enemy of a voucher. For AMS collections, use a food dehydrator at 100°F or less until the specimen is completely cracker dry. Small dry-weather collections may finish quickly. Large or rain-soaked fruitbodies can take several days. What matters is the final condition, not a fixed number of hours.
Start promptly.
Do not leave fresh collections sitting for days before dehydration.
Keep the heat low.
Use a food dehydrator at 100°F or less for AMS voucher material.
Cut only when necessary.
Very large or wet specimens can be split once vertically to speed drying while preserving as much morphology as possible.
Do not rinse the specimen.
Dry dirty material intact and gently brush excess soil away afterward rather than washing away basal characters.
Cracker dry means cracker dry.
Thick tissue should snap or break rather than bend or remain cool and flexible from internal moisture. AFTER DRYING Never separate the specimen from its story.A bag of dried mushrooms without reliable collection data is not the same thing as a voucher. Keep the completely dried specimen with its field datasheet or collection record. The identifying number should agree with the photographs and the iNaturalist observation. Arrange transfer through AMS rather than mailing specimens to an old address from a saved copy of the website. Arrange a specimen handoffWHAT HAPPENS TO A GOOD COLLECTION? One specimen can have several lives.COLLECTING REGULARLY? There is a deeper workflow.Processing large numbers of specimens requires additional conventions for collection numbers, datasheets, drying, sequencing splits, researcher requests, and herbarium processing.
ESTABLISHED COLLECTORS
Advanced collection protocolRegular AMS collectors use a more detailed workflow for field slips, drying, packaging, sequencing splits, researcher requests, and herbarium processing. Open Collection Committee protocolONE GOOD RECORD Document one well.You do not need to collect everything you find. A single mushroom documented carefully is more useful than a basket of specimens with no data attached. |
Citizen Science
How To Take Scientifically Useful Observations
Current estimates suggest that the total number of fungi species is around 3.8 million. Less than 10% of those have been identified.₁ Alabama ranks as one of the top US States in biodiversity.₂ Despite this fact, Alabama fungi are underrepresented in online databases. These two facts mean there is a very good chance you are finding fungi that have not been previously described to science!
The Global Red List, which lists threatened and endangered species, only includes 408 of the 3.8 mil total species due to lack of data. For comparison, there are 1756 protected species of the 43,557 total vascular plants.₃ Knowing which mushrooms are where and when is vitally important to being able to study and protect them.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
It is citizen scientists like us who are helping gather the data for further study by professional mycologists. Citizen Science just means scientific research done by non-professionals- like you and me! Mycological research tends to be underfunded, and due to budget cuts, there are fewer university mycologists to do this research than there used to be.Are you interested in learning to take high-quality observations of fungi to contribute to the future of mycology? Read through the information below for how to take high quality observations on iNaturlist. Want to do more?
We have partnered with the John D. Freeman Herbarium at Auburn University to collect, ID and dry fungi to contribute to their collection, where the samples can be studied in the future by mycologists. Learn the proper steps below!
>Be sure your Location Permissions on your phone are ON to document WHERE you found it.
>Images need to be clear, well-lit, in focus and the mushroom needs to be relatively large in the photo so it's detail can be seen clearly.
>No immature, old, or damaged specimens.
>Be sure you get a photo of each criteria as explained below. It often takes several attempts to get adequate lighting and focus. You should end up with a minimum of 4 final photos (#1-4, as #5-7 are not always necessary or possible.
>Be sure your Location on your phone is ON to document WHERE you found it. You also must grant location permissions in setting for both your camera and the iNaturalist app.
>Images need to be clear, well-lit, in focus, and the mushroom needs to be relatively large in the picture so its details can be seen clearly.
>Color and texture are best documented in natural light.
>No immature, old, or damaged specimens.
>Be sure you get a great photo showing each criteria. There should be a MINIMUM of 5 photos (#1-5 below, as #6-8 are not always necessary or possible) But it often takes several photos to get adequate lighting and focus.
Step 1: FILL OUT A FIELD DATA SHEET
Field data sheets are used to: >Associate photos with collected specimens, for identification and for recording description information. >Provides a scale to indicate size. >Associate photos with specimens after drying for vouchering and sequencing. >Additional notes can be written on the back. Please write the address of where you collected the specimen from on the back. |
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Step 2: RECORD A HIGH QUALITY OBSERVATION
Photos That Are ALWAYS Necessary
#1 In Situ | #2 Cap | #3 Stipe | #4 Gills |
#5 Photo with Field Datasheet |
Photos That Are Sometimes Necessary
| #7 Bruising |
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Step 3: Collecting Specimens
>Dig the specimen up gently using a knife or trowel, make sure to dig deep enough to include the bulb/volva/rooting stipe, if present.
>GENTLY brush off any dirt or debris. A paintbrush or a soft-bristle toothbrush can be helpful.
>Once you are finished taking all the photos you need, put each specimen (or several of the same species collected in the same spot) into a separate bag with the corresponding field data sheet in your basket.
>Remember to only collect specimen that are in prime condition. Old, decayed, bug-eaten, or damaged specimens are not helpful unless you are collecting a rare species.
Step 4: Log Your Observation on iNaturalist
iNaturalist- a social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. Submit photos of what you find and others will help you identify them.
FunDiS- Fungal Diversity Survey. Contribute your observations of fungi to add to a database that can be used by scientists and conservationists to better understand and protect fungi all across North America.₅
>>>JOIN OUR COLLECTION PROJECT
You wont be able to add observations to our collection project unless you join it first.
Post Your Observation. See instructions below.
On Android:
1. Open iNaturalist app
2. Select the green plus sign on bottom right
3. Select ‘Choose Image’
4. Select ‘What Did You See’
-If you don’t have any idea what it is, type in and select ‘Fungi’
-If you know what genus it belongs in, type in and select the genus.
-If you think you know what species it is, type in and select the species.5. Under ‘Notes’ type in anything from your field data sheet that you wrote down. Such as, what is the substrate? Substrate is what it is growing ON, such as soil, dead hardwood, leaf litter, another mushroom, dung, etc. Was it one single specimen growing alone? Or were there several in the immediate area? What does it smell like? Was there any bruising or latex? Results of KOH or other chemical tests if done.
6. Location should fill in automatically if you have your permissions turned on to allow location permissions. PLEASE be sure you have it set to do so. Please leave location visibility set to "open" if at all possible.
7. Click 'Add to Projects' and choose "AMS Alabama Fungal Diversity Project- Collection"
Fill in the habitat value. Habitat is the area AROUND where the mushroom is growing, NOT what its growing ON. Examples of habitat are 'mixed wood forest' 'seasonal floodplain' 'median of a dirt forest service road' 'rock outcropping' etc8 Click the green checkmark on the bottom of the screen when finished adding information
9. Back on your main screen showing your observations, select the observation you just uploaded. Scroll to the bottom where it says ‘Metadata’ and you will find the ID number. Copy this ID number down onto the field data sheet for this specimen. *This is VERY important so we can find your photos and information for sending to the fungarium or for DNA sequencing. Double check that you copied it over correctly and that your handwriting is legible.
On Apple
1.Open iNaturalist app
2. Select the camera icon on the bottom of your screen labeled ‘observe’
3. Choose the camera icon to snap a photo or photo library to choose a photo you already took.
4. Select ‘What Did You See’
-If you don’t have any idea what it is, type in and select ‘Fungi’
-If you know what genus it belongs in, type in and select the genus.
-If you know think you know what species it is, type in and select the species.5.Under ‘Notes’ type in anything from your field data sheet that you wrote down. Such as, what kind of wood is it growing on? What was the habitat like? Was it one single specimen growing alone? Or were there several in the immediate area? What does it smell like? Was there any bruising or latex? Results of KOH or other chemical tests if done.
6.Location should fill in automatically if you have your permissions turned on to allow location permissions. PLEASE be sure you have it set to do so.
8. Add the observation to the "AMS Alabama Fungal Diversity Project- Collection"
Fill in the habitat value. Habitat is the area AROUND where the mushroom is growing, NOT what its growing ON. Examples of habitat are 'mixed wood forest' 'seasonal floodplain' 'median of a dirt forest service road' 'rock outcropping' etc
9. Click the green checkmark on the bottom of the screen when finished adding information10. Back on your main screen showing your observations, select the observation you just uploaded. Click the icon to share the observation, click "copy link to clipboard" if it is an option. Paste the link somewhere where you can view the number that the end of the url. Alternatively, you can share the observation with another app, like Keep Notes to view the number. Copy this ID number down onto the field data sheet for this specimen. *This is VERY important so we can find your photos and information for sending to the fungarium or for DNA sequencing. Double check that you have copied the number correctly and that your handwriting is legible.
Step 5: Vouchering
Voucher: a representative sample of an organism that is deposited and stored at a facility from which researchers may later obtain the specimen for examination and further study.
Dry the specimens in a food dehydrator set to 110֯ F (any temp over 140 ֯ will damage DNA) for 24 to 48 hours until as dry as a potato chip.
Place the specimen in a ziplock sandwich bag with the corresponding field data sheet. This is the size of ziplock you want --> Ziplock Sandwich Bags. Do not fold the field data sheet. Place the mushroom behind the field datasheet with the text facing out, so the information can be read without removing the mushroom. If the specimen is small and fragile, wrap it in a paper towel first. Add a desiccant packet to the bag if you have one.
Step 6: Mail Specimens
If you live up near Cullman, Alabama or in Birmingham, Alabama, one of us may be able to meet you to collect your specimens. Otherwise, please package them carefully in a box or padded envelope with your contact information, in case we have questions, and mail to:
AMS
2101 Millard Rd
Soddy-Daisy, TN 37379
Once received, we will verify that documentation is complete and that the specimens are in suitable condition to be archived at the herbarium. We then enter information into a log for the herbarium. Once we have a considerable shipment together, samples are sent to the herbarium where they are processed and archived.