Gardeners of Simsbury Speaker Series: Mycology with Robert Marra (CAES)

Fungi of Forests and Landscapes 

Most people can recognize a mushroom when they see one, but have you ever wondered how that mushroom got there, or what it’s doing there? Ever wondered about that yellow blob that seems to appear spontaneously in your mulch?  Did you know that many plants, including the trees in our forests, could not survive without the important associations their roots establish with fungi? This talk will introduce the audience to the fascinating world of the poorly understood Kingdom Fungi, and discuss the important role of fungi in our forests. 

Bob Marra earned his PhD in plant pathology and mycology from Cornell University. After postdoctoral positions at the University of Arizona and Duke University, Bob joined the Department of Plant Pathology & Ecology at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station as a Forest Pathologist.  Bob’s research encompasses various aspects of tree and plant diseases of natural and urban ecosystems. Bob began working on beech leaf disease in 2019, the first year that BLD was observed in Connecticut. His current research uses DNA fingerprinting to study the population dynamics of the BLD nematode. With a generous grant from the International Programs Division of the US Forest Service, Bob spent two months in Japan in autumn of 2024 to begin his research into the pathosystem as it manifests on Fagus crenata in Japan. Bob continues his collaboration with the USFS in maintaining eleven long-term BLD monitoring plots throughout CT.