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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,271
Last seen: 6 hours, 10 minutes
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For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi 12
#25109718 - 04/02/18 10:24 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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They made a nice video of me mushroom hunting: https://www.sfchronicle.com/thetake/article/The-Regulars-For-East-Bay-mushroom-hunter-12796115.php
By Nani Walker, Robin Simmonds and Lauren SchwartzmanMarch 31, 2018 Updated: April 1, 2018 3:57pm
Most people dread rainy days, but Alan Rockefeller revels in them. Rockefeller, 40, works in cybersecurity to pay the bills. But his true passion emerges after a downpour, when the wooded areas of the East Bay pop up with molds and mushrooms.
During mushroom season, Rockefeller spends his free time wandering the woods, collecting samples. He takes pieces of fungi back to Counter Culture Labs, a community lab space in Oakland, to identify the species using DNA extraction. He isn’t employed by a research institution, nor paid at all for his efforts. Rockefeller is a remarkably dedicated volunteer, a citizen scientist in the field of mycology — the study of fungi.
Often overlooked, fungi are considered by scientists to be one of the most important classes of organisms on the planet. They play an essential role in breaking down dead plants and animals, and drug discovery. Institutional researchers often find themselves shorthanded when it comes to identifying the organisms.
Self-taught mycologist Alan Rockefeller removes fungi samples from a log on the Berkeley Fire Trails in Berkeley.
Tom Bruns, who leads the fungal ecology lab at UC Berkeley, explains that because mushroom taxonomy is not considered “cutting edge,” funding is hard to come by. The massive number of species yet to catalog adds to the challenge. Bruns says citizen scientists like Rockefeller are “essential to the field of mycology.” Without volunteers, the cataloging of North American mushrooms would be an impossible task.
Because of their similarity to European species, North American and Californian mushrooms have often been misidentified, Bruns says. He adds that new DNA identifying techniques are allowing mycologists to differentiate species in the region.
Rockefeller’s commitment and diligence has led him to identify and name one mushroom scientifically: Psilocybe allenii, a hallucinogenic mushroom from the West Coast.
“The data is extremely interesting,” he says of fungal DNA. “You can see where else in the world the same mushroom is existing, and how it fits into all of the other mushrooms, and help uncover new species.”
And it’s not just California fungi that interest Rockefeller. He’s working on a comprehensive field guide to Mexican mushrooms. Mexico, he says, has some of the best mushroom hunting in the world. In California he only finds “cool mushrooms” every once in a while, whereas in Mexico he can make two to three unique mushrooms a day. He now spends about six months a year in the country.
When he is not at his computer or hunting for mushrooms, Rockefeller trains other mushroom enthusiasts to contribute to the field of mycology. At Counter Culture Labs, he teaches advanced techniques like microscopy and the purification of fungal DNA.
“If I don’t do the work in cybersecurity, somebody else will do the work just the same,” he says. “Whereas with mycology if I don’t do it, no one else would do it quite the same, or much at all.”
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haardr
Stranger


Registered: 06/30/17
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#25109827 - 04/02/18 11:27 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Its really awesome! I just finished watching the "Reading Sequences" and "Chromatograms" I was going to do a search for you and selected this first. Awesome stuff, looking forward to the future of mycology!
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impatientguy
Ganjalf a very mighty lab wizard



Registered: 11/26/14
Posts: 5,054
Loc: USA
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#25109841 - 04/02/18 11:32 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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That's really cool man! Glad to have you here with us.
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Gravity
Happy Learner



Registered: 12/12/10
Posts: 872
Loc: N. East Bay, San Francisc...
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: impatientguy]
#25110037 - 04/03/18 01:50 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Pretty sweet, Alan!
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 Edibles Found and Eaten Chantrelles Blewits Shaggly Parasols Honey Mushrooms Candy Caps
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Shroomdoomie
Rookie farmer

Registered: 02/26/18
Posts: 105
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#25110087 - 04/03/18 02:32 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Wow, speechless nothing but inspiring bro, love that name you gave it alleni. Curious what made you name it that?
-------------------- My first fail / successful grow - 120 grams dried - ShroomDoomie's grow log, Huautlas Mexican strain 1st grow 36fuckin5 -''If nothing else, throw it in a hole outside and cover it with some shit.''
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redeyesmj
werdo



Registered: 12/04/08
Posts: 4,117
Loc: Middle of kansas
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Shroomdoomie]
#25110253 - 04/03/18 06:21 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Very cool
-------------------- Where am I at?
[/url]  “To be godless is probably the first step to innocence," he said, "to lose the sense of sin and subordination, the false grief for things supposed to be lost." So by innocence you mean not an absence of experience, but an absence of illusions." An absence of need for illusions," he said. "A love of and respect for what is right before your eyes.”― Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat
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whitehawk
Stranger

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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#25113374 - 04/04/18 10:43 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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very cool, thanks for posting this
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Amanita86
OTD Keymaster


Registered: 09/26/12
Posts: 89,464
Loc: hades
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Shroomdoomie]
#25113722 - 04/04/18 01:20 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Shroomdoomie said: Wow, speechless nothing but inspiring bro, love that name you gave it alleni. Curious what made you name it that?
He named it after ‘mushroom’ John Allen who I believe was the first dude saying the mushroom was something other than what they had origionally named it. As the story goes I think through dna testing A.R. proved he was right and so named it after him. I think that’s how the story goes..
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Orange clock, pencil "They threw me off the hay truck about noon..."
*Mark 15:34  Gam zeh ya’avor...
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naum



Registered: 10/09/07
Posts: 4,069
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Amanita86]
#25115916 - 04/05/18 01:16 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Naming a species after yourself is seriously bad form, but this was named after John W. Allen.
-------------------- Let's upgrade our security practices and move toward client-side PGP for encrypted PMs. My Public PGP Key: hxxps://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/24002249#24002249
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Just_A_Noob
Breathing



Registered: 12/30/16
Posts: 6,809
Loc: PNW
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: naum]
#25116853 - 04/05/18 08:06 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Truly amazing!!!
-------------------- Wearing a mask is bad for my physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Complying = Consent Wide Mouth 1/2 Pint No-Pour TEK TC Teks & Links
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Cujllickduo



Registered: 06/13/15
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Just_A_Noob]
#25117468 - 04/06/18 03:28 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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enjoyed this.
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Amanita86
OTD Keymaster


Registered: 09/26/12
Posts: 89,464
Loc: hades
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: naum]
#25117541 - 04/06/18 04:55 AM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
naum said: Naming a species after yourself is seriously bad form, but this was named after John W. Allen.
That’s what they tell me but I’m still on a mission to find a new Gymnopilus and name it after me. Gymnopilus Amanitii... just to confuse people.
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Orange clock, pencil "They threw me off the hay truck about noon..."
*Mark 15:34  Gam zeh ya’avor...
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 48,271
Last seen: 6 hours, 10 minutes
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Amanita86]
#25119115 - 04/06/18 05:38 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Shroomdoomie said: Curious what made you name it that?
It wasn't my idea - I started working on the project after John Allen and Jan Borovicka were already collaborating. They asked me if the name was OK and I was like...yea it's great.
Quote:
Amanita86 said: He named it after ‘mushroom’ John Allen who I believe was the first dude saying the mushroom was something other than what they had origionally named it.
Lots of people have been saying it is different for a long time, I am not sure who was the first to say this. When Paul Stamets found it in Golden Gate Park in 1976 he thought it was P. cyanescens, and his photo appears in Mushrooms Demystified, with 3 cyanescens and 3 allenii in the cyanescens color plate.
Jan Borovicka did the DNA work on this.
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Thundermuscle75
Penis, usually hard


Registered: 11/27/17
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Re: For East Bay mushroom hunter, it’s not simply fun with fungi [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#25127282 - 04/09/18 11:50 PM (5 years, 9 months ago) |
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Very nice. Cool to hear that you started out photographing mushrooms and having them ID'd online just like many of us.
Do you ever get monetary compensation for your work in mycology?
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