Project Director

Craddock, J. Hill

Department Examiner

Boyd, Jennifer; Aborn, David

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

I conducted a survey of the macroscopic fungi within Cloudland Canyon State Park, Dade County, GA that consisted of twenty-three forays from May through December of 2019, and one foray in March 2020. The results of my survey add baseline data to our knowledge of the mushrooms present within the park, allow for the future construction of an All Taxa Biodiversity Index, and allow comparisons to other surveys of fungal diversity in similar areas of the Cumberland Plateau: the Tennessee River Gorge Trust (Starrett 2005), and the Lula Lake Land Trust (De Guzman 2000). My survey resulted in an overall collection of 198 specimens of which 116 were identified. Of the 116 specimens identified, 55 genera and 70 species were recorded. Specimens collected for this survey will be accessioned in the UTC Museum of Natural History - Fungi, and images and metadata will be uploaded to MycoPortal. My research objective was to contribute to the knowledge of the macrofungi of the southern Cumberland Uplands. The aim of the present study was to add species to the lists of those macrofungi known to occur within the bounds of the large, nearly contiguous public and private conservation lands of The Tennessee River Gorge, the Lula Lake Land Trust, and Cloudland Canyon State Park. These three areas are similar geologically, geographically, floristically, and have a rich, shared cultural history. The Jaccard's Index of Similarity was utilized in comparing the similarities of macrofungi within Cloudland Canyon State Park, the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, and Lula Lake Land Trust.

Acknowledgments

I would like to extend my gratitude to Brad Gibson for allowing me to forage in this place that has become so significant to me and for managing it well. This place has brought me much peace and discovery amidst a busy season of my life, and for that I am thankful. I would also like to extend my thanks to my thesis director and friend, Dr. J. Hill Craddock. Without him taking a chance on me, this vast and beautiful world of fungi would have never meant as much to me as it does now. His whim and knowledge made the hard parts bearable and magnified the fun ones. Thank you to my committee members, Dr. Jennifer Boyd and Dr. David Aborn, for joining me in this moment and inviting me to view it through a different lens. I owe an immense amount of thanks to my parents and friends, all of whom stuck with me talking about mushrooms and were truly excited for me. Lastly, thank you to those who joined me on forages and were willing to learn and help me: Dalton Strike, Ashley Carpenter, Molly Stelling, Trent Sims, Nicole Elmore, Jacob Goldsmith, Leanah Chestnut, Bella Horrocks, Savannah Sarwar, Hill Craddock, and Paola Zannini. You all made the load of writing a thesis lighter in these shared moments of discovery.

Degree

B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Date

5-2020

Subject

Macrofungi; Mycology

Location

Georgia

Keyword

Cloudland Canyon; fungi; Georgia fungi; Lula Lake Land Trust; macrofungi; Tennessee River Gorge

Discipline

Biodiversity | Plant Biology

Document Type

Theses

Extent

v, 31 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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