Women mycologists | OUPblog https://shar.es/1jiCt9 via @sharethis
Women mycologists | OUPblog https://shar.es/1jiCt9 via @sharethisWomen mycologists
Fungi: A Very Short Introduction
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This essay is written with some trepidation, by a fungal
biologist with no formal credentials in the study of feminism. What I
can offer to support this area of scholarship is a good deal of interest
in the people who have made significant contributions to the study of
fungi. Some individuals loom larger in mycological history than they
deserve, but, to be fair, this mild indictment applies both to those
with, and those without, a Y chromosome.
The science of mycology blossomed in Darwin’s time, when German
botanist Anton de Bary (1831-1888) began to decode the life cycles of
fungi and penned the first textbook on fungi. British clergyman and
botanist Miles Berkeley founded the parallel field of plant pathology,
which concerns plant diseases, at around the same time. Few women have
left any trace of their contributions to the study of fungi before the
1900s, which explains, in part, why the mycological investigations of
children’s author Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) have attracted so much
attention. Beatrix developed a keen interest in natural history during
childhood holidays in Scotland and the Lake District and became
fascinated with lichens. The true nature of lichens as symbiotic
sandwiches of fungi with green algal and blue-green bacterial fillings
was recognized by a Swiss scientist in the 1860s, but there were
holdouts who rejected the theory for decades.
An unfortunate misreading of Potter’s encrypted journal led
biographers to conclude that the young woman had become a vocal
supporter of the symbiotic theory in the 1890s and this has encouraged
some ridiculous claims about her importance as a scientist. Comments in
Potter’s journal about being rebuffed by botanists at the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, with whom she discussed her investigations added to the
myth. There is obvious drama in the story of a young woman working
independently, making a significant breakthrough, and being quashed by
the male establishment. Coupled with the fact that she became a
best-selling author, one has the makings of a fairy tale. And a fairy
tale this is. A careful reading of Potter’s journal shows that rather
than supporting the cohabitive character of lichens, she thought that
fungi could fashion their own green components. Potter got it wrong.
Her work on fungi was not without other merits. Potter’s keen
observational skills and talent as an illustrator allowed her to compose
glorious paintings of mushrooms and some of these were adopted for an
authoritative guidebook on fungi. The problem with the myth about
Potter’s groundbreaking experiments is that it detracts from the work of
other women who made lasting contributions to our understanding of the
fungi.
Elsie Wakefield. Source: C. G. Lloyd, Mycological Notes 72 (1924). Used with permission.
One of her contemporaries who deserves a higher profile is Elsie Maud
Wakefield (1886-1972), an extraordinary scientist who served as Head of
Mycology at Kew for 40 years. Wakefield studied the fundamentals of
fungal sexuality by pairing colonies that developed from mushroom
spores. Mushrooms have a particularly catholic approach to sex, with
some species embracing tens of thousands of mating types, and
fertilization occurring between almost every gender combination.
It is worth noting that Worthington G. Smith, a prominent Victorian
mycologist, developed a view of fungal reproduction that was so utterly
bereft of truth that it is difficult to overstate the failings of his
seemingly hallucinogenic observations. He also poisoned his family by
misidentifying a mushroom (nobody died) and, hubris intact, went on to
publish a book on mushroom identification.
Johanna Westerdijk (1883-1961) was another scientist with a huge
influence on the study of fungi. She was the head of a school of plant
pathologists in the Netherlands, most of whom were women. Marie Schwarz
was a 24-year-old student in the Westerdijk lab when she isolated a
fungus from diseased elm trees after the First World War. The fact that
this fungus was the cause of Dutch elm disease was established by
Christine Buisman, another of Westerdijk’s protégés.
Opportunities for women in mycology are certainly more widespread
today and many leaders in fungal biology are women. Nevertheless, it
would be irresponsible to suggest that we live in the best possible of
all professional worlds and that women scientists face no career hurdles
specific to their gender. Featured image credit: Fly Agaric, by Bianca Mentil CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay.
Nicholas P. Money is Professor of Botany and Western
Program Director at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is an expert on
fungal growth and reproduction and has authored eight books, including
Very Short Introductions to Microbiology and Fungi.
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