>>1193467Are you sure they're actually destroying angels? A lot of people jump to the conclusion that anything with an overall whitish color, or a ring, is a deadly Amanita sp. Destroying angels (Amanita bisporega or ocreata) aren't what I would call common in most regions they occur. Are you coastally located in the states?
Leucoagaricus leucothites is far more common, and much more likely to be seen in an urban area, where deadly Amanitas (with the exception of oak-associated A. phalloides) are mostly going to be in actual forests.
To a beginner, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless you lifted it up and checked for a universal veil.
>>1193474The lab I'm in actually corresponds with the Currie lab frequently, we like to make sure our environmental conditions and practices match up, so our results can stay relevant. I love it because there are so many avenues to go down with research, symbiosis and co-evolution, fungal domestication, eusociality, the "hive mind" phenomena and work division, the energy economy, I could really keep going.
As a mycologist I am focused on the fungus, but most of the lab is actually studying the mechanical properties of their metal-enriched mandibles and how sharpness affects work division.
Yes, I've actually been corresponding with one of the lead research teams in Szichuan, there have been a number of papers released vaguely detailing their methods (leaving just enough out) but I think getting straight to the source is the best route. Their methods are very simple, and for the most part, the farmers growing them don't actually know why what they're doing works. Noone in the US has grown them commercially though, and I hope to fill that void before someone else does.
>>1193825I do the Morchella research totally independently using facilities graciously offered to me by Lane Community College, it is kind of my passion project, and I do the Leafcutter research in a lab at the University of Oregon.
