As a PhD student in mycology at the Department of Botany at UBC, I am always on the lookout for opportunities to expand my knowledge of fungal diversity. On hearing about graduate research assistantship opportunities at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, I proposed to UBC Beaty Herbarium Director Whitton that I would curate fungal specimens left in the UBC herbarium by the late Professor Robert Joseph ‘Bob’ Bandoni.
I was awarded the assistantship, and launched into a project that gave me the opportunity to spend 192 hours immersed in Dr. Bandoni’s un-accessioned collections, doing my utmost to curate his specimens, drawings and notes to make them widely accessible to the scientific community. In the process, I increased my understanding of the jelly fungi, Dr. Bandoni’s group of interest, and developed a deeper appreciation for how this world-renowned UBC specialist conducted his studies.
Image of a jelly fungus (Tremella fuciformis (Berk.)), from La Chorrera district in Panama. Photo credit, with permission: Eduardo A. Esquivel Rios2011
Robert ‘Bob’ Bandoni
Robert Bandoni (1926-2009) completed a Bachelor of Science from the University of Nevada in 1953. He became fascinated by jelly fungi and their allies, especially by the genus Tremella during his doctoral research at the University of Iowa, under the supervision of G.W. Martin. He carried this interest with him to UBC. As a UBC professor from 1958-1989, he published papers on culturing techniques; staining techniques; elucidation of mating systems; and studies of spore dispersal, as well as systematics and taxonomy of his favorite group of fungi.
He contributed to the recognition of a yeast-phase in many Basidiomycota, pinned down through careful isolations and cultures. Reflecting his activities, the UBC herbarium holds 2788 catalogued records from his collections. About 900 are collections of jelly fungi, including 239 collections of Tremella species.
Bandoni Fungi Collection
After he passed away, Bob left the UBC herbarium his working collection of un-accessioned specimens, collections borrowed from other researchers for study or determination, drawings and notes, and fragments of type specimens from studies of material from other herbaria. In an initial inventory of this material, I found that it comprises a daunting 75 boxes of various sizes, filling two UBC herbarium cabinets. I estimated that the boxes contain close to 3500 specimens.
As I scraped through what had been the ‘works in progress’ of his extensive collecting-exchange efforts, I was amazed to learn how he organized his data and I was struck by the diversity of genera and species I had never heard about (ex: Tetragoniomyces, Sirobasidium, Efibulobasidium, Craterocolla, Xenolachne). Much of Dr. Bandoni’s material is taxonomically valuable and significant systematically; it represents an exceptional window into the diversity of a challenging group of fungi.
L. Le Renard, author of this blog, next to one of the two UBC herbarium cabinets full of the boxes of Prof. Bandoni ‘s un-accessioned material.
Photo credit: Derek K. Tan
The End Game
Type specimens –In the time I had available through my assistantship, I chose to focus on the ‘type specimens’ and their associated notes. The type specimen is important because it is THE example to show exactly to what kind of fungus the name refers. A researcher, in naming a new species, must, according to the Botanical Code of Nomenclature, designate a ‘type specimen’ that is kept in a herbarium.
Herbaria including UBC, loan specimens, including types, to researchers around the world, with the understanding that the researcher who borrows them will return them, along with expert comments and annotations that increase their scientific value. During his active career, Dr. Bandoni had fulfilled his part of this bargain. Now that he has passed away, I am helping UBC to complete its scientific handshake with herbaria and collaborators.
Notes and drawings on the Type specimen of Tremella fuciformis by Bob Bandoni. Filed as specimen F28678 in UBC herbarium.
I located and set aside all the packages referring to type material. Sometimes, the ‘material’ consisted of notes or drawings, sometimes it consisted of slides or fragments of specimens, and sometimes both. Because scanning and accessioning Dr. Bandoni’s notes and drawings would effectively make his insights into the systematics and morphology of these specimens widely available to the research community, I data based the 59 records for the type material.
The images and notes that I accessioned into UBC herbarium database are now publicly available. Some notes specified that certain type collections were too poor to be sampled. I did not database notes or fragments representing 10 additional specimens for which available information was too incomplete or fragmentary.
The data accessed, I hope, will improve the awareness and promote the use of the collection by present and future generations of experts in this group of fungi. Finally, towards my own PhD research with a challenging group of fungi, this experience is helping me organize my own collecting data coherently.
This indirect contact with Dr. Bandoni broadened my appreciation of non-mushroom forming Basidiomycetes, and through his notes on specimens, I learned a lot about the challenges surrounding mycological taxonomy. In the course of this project, I had the pleasure of learning from a very talented mycologist I never met.
Summary of Accomplishments
- Inventoried the contents of Dr. Bandoni’s 75 boxes of specimens and notes.
- Found and designated 6 boxes with identified or partially identified specimens that are now ready for data entry, labeling and filing.
- Found and designated 15 boxes of specimens for exchange, or of borrowed material, which are ready to be mailed to other herbaria.
- Contacted other herbaria offering the return of fragments of type specimens that Dr. Bandoni had borrowed for study; entered the specimen information into the database (without accessioning the material).
- Scanned and accessioned into the Beaty Museum UBC herbarium drawings and notes from 125 specimens including 59 types and 66 other specimens of historical importance. These notes and drawings are now available on the UBC herbarium database website.
Resources
Bandoni RJ. 1975. Surface-active spore slimes. Canadian Journal of Botany-Revue Canadienne De Botanique 53(21):2543-2546.
—. 1979. Safranin-O as a rapid nuclear stain for fungi. Mycologia 71(4):873-874.
Bandoni RJ, Johri BN, Reid SA. 1975a. Mating among isolates of three species of Sporobolomyces. Canadian Journal of Botany-Revue Canadienne De Botanique 53(24):2942-2944.
Bandoni RJ, Koske RE. 1974. Monolayers and microbial dispersal. Science 183(4129):1079-1081.
Bandoni RJ, Parsons JD, Redhead SA. 1975b. Agar baits for collection of aquatic fungi. Mycologia 67(5):1020-1024.
Boekhout T, Fonseca A, Sampaio JP, Bandoni RJ, Fell JW, Kwon-Chung KJ. 2011. Discussion of teleomorphic and anamorphic basidiomycetous yeasts. The yeasts, a taxonomic study. 5th ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 1339-1374.