Mycorizon : Newsletter of the New Mexico Mycological Society
  June 2006 Volume 4   Number 6  
What's This?
  Readers will quickly have noticed that this is not the usual attractive, well-crafted Mycorizon to which they have become accustomed. It resembles more the paleolithic scratchings which this writer used to circulate during the last millennium.
  Ann Floyd, our intrepid editor, informed me that she would not be able to put together the newsletter this month. To this I responded that she certainly deserved some time off and that I was up to the task. I also stated that I would try not to embarrass her too badly.
  Fully confident, I opened up the desktop publishing software she uses and realized that I was at the absolute bottom of the learning curve. Time and intimidation finally convinced me to return to a format I remembered, if only vaguely. This points out to me how indebted we are to Ann's skill and dedication as our editor and publisher. A few of us help her fold pages and lick stamps, but month after month it is Ann who brings our newsletter to life.

September Meeting?
  The September meeting is scheduled for Monday the 4th. This is eight days after the end of our Foray and happens also to be Labor Day. My hunch is that very few members will want to meet that day and my inclination is to cancel or reschedule the meeting. We will discuss this at the upcoming meeting and announce the plan in the next newsletter.

No Regular Meeting in July
  Traditionally for July we have a summer potluck instead of the regular meeting. There are a handful of generous members who have hosted this (and the December) gatherings each year. I will not list names, but will say to those select few that we are very grateful for your hospitality. We will try at the upcoming meeting to determine a date and place for this year's summer potluck. If any members--traditional host or otherwise--would like to volunteer for this event, I would like to hear from you at the meeting or before.
Nominations Already?
  It is the president's duty each year to appoint a chairperson for the nominating committee. An attempt to do this usually seems to happen at the October meeting; the election of officers is in November. This year I want to establish a nominating committee much sooner. I expect that it will be a challenge to solicit officer candidates for 2007, and I think it wise to provide more time for this pursuit. If any members want to fill a small yet important role in the club, please volunteer for this committee.
June Meeting
 As a courtesy to our speaker, we plan to begin the upcoming meeting with her talk. Please be at the meeting a bit before 7:30 so we can begin the program without distraction. After the talk and refreshments, we will hold the business portion of the meeting.

Next Meeting: Monday, June 5th 2006 7:30pm at the NM Museum of Natural History
  Program presented by Andrea Porras-Alfaro: Nitrogen enrichment effect on endophytic and soil fungal communities in a semi-arid grassland
  Semi-arid and arid grasslands constitute approximately one third of the earth's terrestrial ecosystems. As is the case with other ecosystems, they can be subjected to dramatic increases in nitrogen deposition due to anthropogenic activities. Microbial diversity in arid and semi-arid grasslands is practically unknown, and the characteristic micro-topography (e.g., tussocks and cyanobacterial-crust soil communities) makes these systems ideal to study microbial distribution patterns. I am studying the effect of nitrogen deposition on fungal communities in a semi-arid grassland at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR), New Mexico. To evaluate the effect of nitrogen deposition, an extensive survey of the diversity and distribution patterns (temporal and spatial) of endophytic and soil fungal communities has been conducted using a sequence-based approach.
The June'06 mailing included a current copy of the NMMS Contact List.
MycoWest.net/mycorizon/2006/z~66.htm . dmw . 2006-05-31